Nine times 'sports heroes' trained Bollywood actors for the big screen

Sports stars have had a long association with Bollywood Now with biopics on sports stars seem to be the flavour of the season in Bollywood stars of the sporting world are getting more and more involved in BTown These reallife heroes spend time with Bollywood stars to make sure the actors are fit and able to suit the role and character they are portrayingFormer India pacer Balwinder Singh Sandhu trained actors Akshay Kumar and Harman Baweja for cricketbased filmsWith Bollywood superstar Aamir Khans Dangal and Salman Khans Sultan two films on wrestling becoming 2016s highest grossing films lets take a look at some sports stars who have mentored Bollywood actors for rolesDangal Kripa Shankar Patel BishnoiKripa Shankar Patel BishnoiKripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi an Indian womens wrestling team coach based in Indore has trained Aamir khan and entire crew of Dangal for action sequences featuring wrestling40yearold Bishnoi who trained Aamir in wrestling for over one and half years is an Arjun awardee Bishnoi who has won a number of medals for India at international competitions including the Commonwealth Games was referred to as lsquocoachrsquo on the setIn an interview he said that Aamir trained for more than six months before the shoot began and continued training during the shooting He added His schedule was exactly like that of a wrestlerrsquos If I didnrsquot like a particular move or he was not satisfied with a shot he would shoot again till the time it looked perfectBishnoi was approached by Aamirrsquos production house in March 2015 for the filmKripa also trained newcomers Fatima Sana Sheikh and Sanya Malhotra who play Geeta and Babita in DangalSultan Jagdish Kaliraman andPalwinder CheemaSalman Khan seen lifting wrestlers Hind Kesari Jagdish Kaliraman and Hind Kesari Palwinder Cheema at the wrapup bash of his film Sultan in Ludhiana Picture courtesyAli Abbas Zafars Twitter accountNational champion Jagdish Kaliraman 40 the son of famous wrestler Master Chandgi Ram was the official trainer and coach on Sultan tasked with making the lead stars Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma ldquolook at easerdquoldquoItrsquos important that the stars move beyond their image and look like the character We were successful in doing thatrdquo says Jagdish son of legendary wrestler Chandgi Ram KaliramanAnushka Sharma underwent rigorous training for six weeks for her role as a wrestler in SultanHis Chandgi Ram Akhara has trained many women wrestlers like Neha Rathi who won the bronze medal at the 2012 Asian Wrestling Championships and his sister Sonika Kaliraman who was the 2003 silver medal winner at junior Asian GamesPatialabased Hind Kesari Palwinder Cheema who is an Arjuna Awardee who won the gold medal in the 2002 Commonwealth Games and silver medals at the Asian Games in 2002 and 2006 was also involved in training both the starsPatiala House and Victory Balwinder Singh SandhuFormer cricketer Balwinder Singh Sandhu training Akshay Kumar at the PA Mhatre Sports Academy for the 2011 film Patiala HouseFormer Mumbai and India pacer Balwinder Singh Sandhu trained Akshay Kumar for the 2011 film Patiala HouseTraining Akshay Kumar for Patiala House 2011 was easy for the cricketerturnedcoach for the actor had a sound understanding of the gameHes very much into cricket and a thorough professional With this heady combination you have won half the battle In any case I dont think its that difficult for an actor to play any character as they are hard working and have good visualisation skills I have also trained Harman Baweja for his film and he too proved to be a fast learner And we are of course involved with the screenplay and shoot For example I would travel with Akshay and provide him inputs whenever needed It was a good experience and I would love to be associated with similar Bollywood projects in future Sandhu a member of the 1983 World Cup winning side had said in an interviewIn an interview director Nikhil Advani had said that Akshay was training so diligently and religiously that Balwinder Sandhu even joined him at Malshej Ghat for the shoot of Tees Maar Khan Sandhu who coached Akshay for nearly a month had revealed that the actor got into his cricketing gear and trained whenever he got a breakSandhu had also trained actor Harman Baweja for the 2009 film VictoryAzhar Mohammad AzharuddinMohammad Azharuddin and Emraan Hashmi PicYogen ShahFormer India captain Mohammad Azharuddin trained Emraan Hashmi for the biopic on him Azharuddin supervised Hashmis training for batting accuracy and authentic cricketing shotsThe 37yearold actor has trained extensively to get Azharuddins signature moves right and Hashmi had long practice sessions with AzharuddinTalking about Emraan Azhar said He is very patient and a very good learner Not many people can learn fast He wants to learnAt the teaser launch Emraan said ldquoThere were a lot of challenges in playing the role One of them was Azhar had an unconventional batting style and I had no footwork on that So Azharbhai started training merdquoMS Dhoni The Untold Story Kiran MoreSushant Singh Rajput was mentored by former Indian cricketer Kiran More to do justice to the lead role of MSD in MS Dhoni The Untold Story More worked hard to make sure that Sushant got the strokes right as well as the demeanour and dispositionSushant reportedly injured his ribs while practicing the cricketerrsquos signature lsquohelicopterrsquo shotA former national selector More taught Sushant Singh wicketkeeping for the film and they were often spotted practising at Mumbais Bhavans College ground in Andheri Sushant trained with the former Indian wicketkeeper for more than a year for the filmChak De India Mir Ranjan NegiShah Rukh Khan and former hockey player Mir Ranjan NegiFormer hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi inspired Shah Rukh Khans character in 2007 film Chak De India and helped train the actor and the girls who formed the team as wellNegi said The girls in that film were not professional players but achieved perfection of sorts by watching videos of hockey players Shah Rukh at an individual level had done a lot of research on my life events and prepared himself by watching my videos and browsing through paper clippings on me So that made my job easier as I had to guide him only on the technical aspectsThe filmmakers kept Negi around for inputs while shooting I was actively involved in the entire process of filmmaking I shared my thoughts on all things that mattered right from the casting to set design and script he had said in an interviewBhaag Milkha Bhaag Milkha Singh The Flying SikhMilkha Singh and Farhan AkhtarFarhan Akhtar perfected Milkha Singhs look and demeanour for the Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra film through rigorous physical training over 13 months under the guidance of fitness trainer Samir JauraFarhan had to undergo gruelling physical training guided by Jaura for the roleMilkha Singh The Flying Sikh not only gave all the details of his life to the filmmakers for just Re 1 He also was helped Farhan in preparing for the role including his style of runningFarhan also trained with sprint coach Melwin Crasto and ran regularly on the race tracks at St Stanislaus High School in Bandra MumbaiMary Kom Mary KomMary Kom and Priyanka ChopraBoxing star Mary Kom was on board for her biopic to make sure that it was more credible Priyanka used to sit with me and observe how I walked and spoke to get into the skin of the character And I think she did a brilliant job the Olympic medal winner had revealed