When production house Yash Raj Films approached Robin Behl to help Sharvari prep for their spy film, the brief was simple: She needed to look sexy, and strong. Knowledge around fitness science may be available in abundance, but Behl admits that the notion that strong women inevitably acquire a masculine physique, is still propagated. Sharvari, however, had spent enough time under the barbell to know that the claims had no merit.

“She had to be extremely fit because she was set to pull off many action sequences both with and without weapons. Since she was already undergoing action training for three hours, my job was to cater to the aesthetics. So, of course, strength training became a major component of our routine, but, because she needed to look athletic, I didn’t want her body to appear stiff on screen.”

In a bid to “introduce fluidity in her movements”, Behl included handstands, body-weight exercises, and mobility drills into her routine. Often, they’d indulge in a bout of boxing.

“All of this ensured that while she stayed active, her range of motion wasn’t compromised. This relates to both physical and mental [agility]. When you introduce something different into your regimen, you force your nervous system to adapt. If you continue to do the same movements, [the mind] stops learning. Of course, we had to repeat movements to help her build strength in certain muscles, but we had to also switch them often to keep her [at the edge]. This was also essential given the role that she was playing,” he says of the actor, who pairs up with Alia Bhatt for the film titled Alpha, and touted as the production house’s first female-led espionage thriller of the spy universe.

Behl has previously been credited for enabling Adarsh Gourav prep for the role of a fitness trainer in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (2023). And while the trainer had opined that he was getting the actor physically ready for the film, he was amused to see his mannerisms unfold on screen when the movie released.

“I noticed that Adarsh had also picked up [nuances], like the way I walked or spoke, and it was interesting to see that.” Having seen Gourav at work, he wanted to expose Sharvari to a similar situation—one where she could experience, first-hand, how athletes move.

“That’s why I took her to meet my teacher, Carl Varel, who is Asia’s number six Brazilian Jiu Jitsu [expert]. I wanted her to experience the grappling, clinching and take-downs [associated with the sport], and see how they move.”

Sharvari’s training involved a whole lot of everything. “We did a lot of running bouts with her. But, instead of asking her to run at one pace for a long time, we included variations, like [interval training]. To improve her adaptability, we made her run bouts that varied from two to six kilometres. Often, we’d run in the heat at noon, or early in the day at 6 am. Strength training was included. She’s incredible with her pushing movements and could execute push-ups and parallel bar dips. Gradually, we started introducing a lot of balancing work into her routine. Because I have prior experience with forms like Kung Fu, we’d have her train with sticks. The idea was to make her comfortable with how [an athlete] moves, and to build familiarity with the choreography. I am a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, so, I added that into her regimen because combat will be involved in her scenes.” 

A major chunk of his sessions with Sharvari may have concluded, but Behl still seems to be in awe of her ability to meet his challenges. Ask him if she found it tough to keep up with the day-long training sessions and he says, “I found it tough to keep up with her.”

“She wouldn’t stop. After a one-hour-20-minute routine, when I am wrapping up, she’d ask me what’s next. She’d walk in saying she had two hours to train, and I’d have to tell her that I did not. Usually, I take a while to acquaint myself with an actor’s abilities in the gym, but, with her, we could pick up the pace in as little as two weeks. It was due to that effort that she could shave off nine per cent of body fat [in five months].”

Sahil Rasheed has trained Janhvi Kapoor and Dhairya Karwa, Robin Behl has trained Kriti Sanon, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Kiara Advani, Ibrahim Ali Khan, and Adarsh Gourav. Pics/Instagram

Robin Behl: I interacted with Kriti Sanon in the lockdown when she had to lose weight post Mimi. Her management team had been training with me, and they introduced us. We started connecting virtually, and today she’s a partner in our company.

Deanne Pandey: Preity Zinta was a very close friend, and she was working on Salaam Namaste. She had to wear tiny skirts, and flaunt a flat midriff, so she began to train with me. Even today, she tells me that that was the fittest she has ever been. She was the first Bollywood actor I trained.

Sahil Rasheed: My first client was Patralekhaa, who came to check out the gym I was working at. I was [asked] to show her around, and she subsequently began to train with me. Thereafter, she introduced me to Rajkummar [Rao], and that’s how my clientele built up.

Robin: They have no time, because they’re filming for 12 hours a day. They’ve got 100 things to do, and they need to train and maintain. So, one needs to build a relationship with them. If they don’t trust you, it’s not going to work out at all, especially due to the erratic schedule. I try to understand their physical, emotional, and mental needs. They keep doing so much to their bodies, that it can be tough to cope—one look for one film, and then another for the next. So, it’s not like they’re constantly in a particular shape. You need to manipulate the sessions to keep them interested. 

Deanne: Many years ago, people didn’t exercise regularly. It wasn’t part of their lifestyle, like it is today. Back then, they’d just train for two months before a movie would go on floors. So, we needed to accomplish a lot in limited time—address their nutritional needs, conduct medical tests, and train to achieve desired results. But, they were always disciplined. Bollywood has always been very aesthetic and body-centric. Even 30 years ago, I always practiced in a holistic way. Even if the window was short, I kept a check on their sleeping patterns, and stress levels. 

Robin: Yes, because it’s not only about the training—it’s also about the dance, acting, diction and speech. Their attention is divided because there are so many aspects that need to be addressed. So, only when there’s mutual respect will things be smooth sailing. 

Robin: The sessions we had with Adi [Aditya Roy Kapur] for The Night Manager were different, if not crazy. He was shooting for 14 hours a day, and I’d be in his room at 5 am to wake him up to train, and would be waiting for him right after he wrapped up too. I knew he was so exhausted that if he sat down to rest, he wouldn’t get himself to train. So, we’d train before he could [call it a day]. It’s not an easy thing to do because acting is physically draining too, and we were in Sri Lanka, where the temperature was not favourable. He’d be pissed off with me, and I had no chill, but we had to get it done. 

Three days prior [to the climax scene], we cut out salt from his diet. But, if I felt he needed [a boost], I’d give him a bit of dark chocolate or do something to keep the energy up. Every time we meet, we talk about how we wouldn’t want to go down that route again. 

Robin: That they are super difficult. They’re not. Or that you need to be at their beck and call, which also isn’t true. If you have a structured approach and a good understanding, that’s enough to train a celebrity. Another one is that you can train only one celebrity at a time. That’s also not true. I’m working with Siddhant Chaturvedi, Kiara [Advani], Kriti, Ibrahim [Ali Khan], and Adarsh [Gourav].

 

Sahil: It’s not a level-playing field. Understand that celebrities have access to a lot of specialists, including physiotherapists. So, even if they have a small niggle, we need to get the green signal from the physio before proceeding. So, there’s a lot of change in the programme. This is also due to occupational hazards. When I was training Janhvi Kapoor for Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, she had been training with a person from the military, and had developed some back issues. So, we had to address those. Creating a plan that is practical for the actor, regardless of the character she is set to play [is also vital]. Also, often, they have to achieve a lot in a short span of time, and that requires one to understand the emotional toll that the process can take. When I trained Shriyam Bhagnani for Sumo Didi, we had a short window to train an 85-kilo actor to do a split and nab strength training. Often, she’d cry during the process. But, she got better as we went along. 

Robin: It was important for me to travel with Aditya, because a major part of the shoot involved body-shots. If it’s not a body-shot, I don’t travel. We also have a team. So, I may send somebody with a brief. I have programmed everything. They just need to execute it. Also, now we can train individuals virtually. Cell phones and gyms are accessible.

Considering the athletic frame that he has sported throughout his career, one would assume that Aditya Roy Kapur would have had to up his fitness regimen by only a small proportion to acquire the lithe physique of Shaan Sengupta in The Night Manager.

“I’d wake him up early and send him off on a run. I’d make him execute drills, like push-ups and pull-ups. There was a fair amount of weight-lifting work, callisthenics, and floor work involved. We also incorporated some amount of martial arts training,” says Robin Behl, before adding, “But you are right. He has an incredible physique!”

Behl has turned his attention to athletic techniques that prioritize “good quality” movement over “traditional forms in which you’re simply lifting without purpose]”. That Kapur’s Shaan, a former navy officer, also needed to come across as someone who has “freedom of movement” implies that Behl’s learnings could indeed serve Kapur.

“Primarily, a lot of strength and conditioning work was involved. We didn’t want to focus on what this could do for this project alone because we wanted to develop [techniques] that could serve him for other projects as well. So, it wasn’t about the aesthetics alone. I love gymnastic rings, and also incorporated weighted exercises into his routine. Fasted cardio works well for him, and we injected small bits of cardiovascular training into his weight-training routine to burn fat. When callisthenics is blended with lifting, you can create a [holistic] routine. While movements like pull-ups and push-ups work on the entire group of muscles and improve stability, isolated weight-lifting exercises helped me train the muscles that [needed to be enhanced for the show].”

If it wasn’t for the resolute Kapur, Behl admits navigating the long training schedule during the shoot, battling extreme temperatures, and keeping him on a caloric restriction that was only sufficient to sustain his activities, wouldn’t have been possible. “We didn’t want to drive him to a stage of burn-out. There was barely any gap between [the shooting schedules] and we wanted him to retain his energy levels. If he was pushed to exhaustion, his body wouldn’t react. We were doing a mix of a lot of movement. We ensured that he tracked his nutrition, ate clean and limited his intake to the amount his body [essentially] required, and kept his macros in check. Three days before a body shot, we’d eliminate salt from his diet. He’d be on minimal calories and would consume a low-carb diet. At one time, he was eating only 1,800 calories, [which could be difficult to adhere to] since he is a big guy. While he was in a deficit, I couldn’t push him or make him lift heavy weights. There had to be a sync between his nutrition, training, and [rest]. It’s a relationship between three elements. I had to ascertain that he was getting the required amount of rest and that his stress levels were in check. But, Aditya takes on any task [with diligence]. He doesn’t have a half-hearted approach. So, even after a 12 to 14-hour shooting schedule, when he’d see me waiting for him, he’d be ready to train within five minutes.”