As told to Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 28, 2018)

While I was working on S S Rajamouli’s Baahubali and its 2017 sequel, I had to learn sword-fighting as my character, Avanthika, was primarily a warrior. It was required especially for my introduction which was an action sequence. I trained for a few weeks under the guidance of fight master Peter Hein and had initially thought it was all about the strength of your arms, however it is the footwork which matters the most. I spent most of my time focusing on it and it wasn’t easy, but I had noticed that good dancers learnt it faster and made for better fighters too. In films, action sequences are choreographed quite like dancing and it becomes easier to grasp the techniques.

We trained with metal swords for which a sword was chosen keeping my height and weight in mind. During this period, while getting the form right, safety was also an important part of the training as we had to be sure not to hurt ourselves as well as the opponent in the scene. In my case, thankfully I was working with actors like Prabhas who had already undergone a lot of training and he is an action star himself so all of that came naturally to him. In fact, I learnt a lot from him too as he was around when I was filming my introduction sequence and his inputs really helped. Also, we were shooting in a very different terrain which was more difficult than shooting on a plain ground.

I also had to take horse-riding lessons from Jeetu Verma who owns a well-equipped stable near Film City which is home to around 20 horses.

Then, we’re constantly brushing up our dancing skills on sets but I had always wanted to learn a classical Indian dance form and I finally got to learn Bharatanatyam for my upcoming Telugu period drama, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy which also has Chiranjeevi Sir and Mr Bachchan (Amitabh Bachchan). I have recently started training and spend a few hours on it whenever I get the time. Bharatanatyam is extremely difficult to learn and must be really ingrained in you, which is why I think people enrol their kids at an early stage. It’s such a beautiful form, which also makes you strong as it activates your arms and legs. Sometimes I wonder if focusing more on learning it would be better than spending a lot of time in the gym.

As someone born and brought up in Mumbai, I could only speak in English and Hindi when I started out as an actress in South films. When the number of film offers started to increase, I figured it would be better if I learnt Tamil and Telugu languages. I actively started learning Telugu during Sekhar Kammula’s 2007 coming-of-age Telugu musical Happy Days, which was my fifth film. Tamil happened much later. However, I speak both the languages very fluently now and sometimes when am angry or upset, I subconsciously blabber in these languages. I was fortunate enough to learn the languages from the best as most of the Tamil directors I worked with initially didn’t speak Hindi or English. So, I had to learn to communicate with them because of which I got to learn authentic Tamil. I will forever be grateful to them. That said, learning languages is an ongoing process, which, I think, is the beauty of it.

En route to Jaipur, Jeetu Verma’s car was pelted by locals while driving through a forest in Chittorgarh; the windscreen shattered and left his eye bleeding profusely
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 1, 2017)

Jeetu Verma, best remembered for his villainous turn as Jojo in the 1998 Abbas-Mastan actioner Soldier, featuring Bobby Deol in the lead, has been admitted to an eye hospital in Wadala after being attacked en route to Jaipur from Mount Abu.

His older brother, Manohar Verma, the action director of films like Madras Café, Airlift, Neerja and Mirzya, told Mirror, that Jeetu was on his way to his home town in Jaipur to attend a function. “There is a 40-km patch of forest area near Chittorgarh, which is en route. It was broad daylight and Jeetu was sitting next to the driver in the front seat. Suddenly, some locals started pelting their car. The driver picked up speed but the stones kept coming. One hit the windshield and it cracked. Jeetu’s eye was hit and bleeding profusely even as the driver raced away,” he narrates.

The 49-year-old actor-businessman, who owns over a dozen horses, runs a training academy for riders and coaches Bollywood actors for riding sequences in their films (he’s recently trained Kangana Ranaut for Rangoon besides Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon for their upcoming film Raabta), was carried out of the car when it stopped at a toll naka on the outskirts of the forest where the cops were interrogating two other people whose cars had also been attacked that same day. Jeetu was then rushed to Udaipur airport and flown down to Mumbai.

“Meanwhile, the police assessed the vehicle and also recovered the stones that had cracked the glass and fallen into the car. But there needs to be more security. When such occurrences are happening in the region on a daily basis, it is important that stringent measures be taken immediately,” Manohar said, adding, “There was an attack on Sanjay Leela Bhansali in the same region recently (the National award-winning filmmaker was attacked by members of the Karni Sena on the sets of his upcoming historical-drama Padmavati in Jaipur), for very different reasons, but security forces and the police officers were still incompetent. Something needs to be done. Rajasthan cannot become this unsafe!”

Two days after the incident, Dr S Natarajan operated on Jeetu and confirmed that he had suffered a fractured eyebrow, had required 10 stitches and had lost retinal function. He was unconscious till Friday evening. The family still doesn’t know whether he will regain sight in his right eye. “Luckily, in these trying times we have received support from Jeetu’s close friend (actor-producer-businessman) Suniel Shetty,” Jeetu’s wife Kusum told Mirror. “Sunielji arranged for Jeetu to be transported and admitted to this hospital the moment he landed in Mumbai. Now, we hope that he recovers soon and other travellers don’t suffer such horrors in the future.”

Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 5, 2015)

Popular villain-stuntman and horse whisperer Jeetu Verma, who owns a well-equipped stable, home to 20 horses near Film City, has a new student, Kangana Ranaut. Since, August, the actress has been cantering under Jeetu's supervision for Vishal Bhardwaj's upcoming romance-drama, Rangoon. The film, which also features Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor, is a Casablanca-like love triangle set against the backdrop of the Second World War.

Jeetu, who had earlier trained Shahid for Vishal's 2009-thriller, Kaminey, where the actor was seen racing with a dozen white horses, recalls a call from Vishal informing him that he wanted him to turn Kangana into a champion horse rider. "We have been practising the basics for two hours a day since August. Kangana shows up at 6 am sharp, whenever she is in the city. She is extremely particular about her saddle, boots and helmet. She is a quick learner, buzzing with questions about horse riding," he says.

Two days ago, Kangana took Paris by storm, looking chic in the front-row beside Rihanna, Elizabeth Olsen and Emilia Clarke at a fashion week at the Louvre. She will be completely deglam over the next two months. "All her riding gear will be in shades of brown and she will be wearing paddock boots," says Jeetu, who played a swordsman in the Hollywood film, The Fall. "It would be great to have Kangana gallop with a sword. At our first training session, she told me that this was the first time she would ride a horse in a film and she wants to be perfect. She wouldn't ride till she had her stance right. She has not started training for her stunts yet but she has started caring for the horses and they understand her now too."

Jeetu's family has trained Bollywood actors for the last 40 years. They also supplied horses for Ramesh Sippy's Sholay, BR Chopra's Mahabharat and more recently, Madras Cafe and Action Jackson. "There will be lots of horses and action sequences in Rangoon. Vishal knows exactly what he wants," says Jeetu, adding that the government and the Censor Board are keen to take horses off the streets and out of films. "But I've assured the authorities that there will be no cruelty towards animals in my films," he adds.