Behind every actor’s breathtaking stunt or sprint is a trainer who works quietly and tirelessly
Shashi is not alone. He is one of many trainers in the Hindi film industry, people who work quietly behind the scenes, helping stars acquire skills, which, in turn, enables these actors to better inhabit characters. The trade includes dialect coaches and sport specialists, among others. The brief given to them is simple: make the actor look compelling. Former sprinter Melwyn Crasto, for instance, trained Farhan Akhtar for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013). For the past 18 months, the Central Railway athletics coach has also prepped Taapsee Pannu and Aamir Khan to sprint in Rashmi Rocket and Laal Singh Chadha, respectively. “When actors do weight training, they just bulk up and become stiff,” says Crasto. “Now they want a muscular body but one that’s also athletic.” Before he signs a film, Crasto insists he be given at least six months to make an actor look and run like an athlete. Besides teaching correct technique, he also works on agility and coordination. “It’s a high-risk job because you have to start from scratch,” he says. “You can’t push them, otherwise there is risk of injury.” Crasto says he is also on set during the shooting of race sequences to ensure they appear accurate and authentic.
Accuracy is key even for Sunita Sharma, Hindi cinema’s most sought-after Haryanvi dialect coach. Sharma sits by the monitor with a pen in hand and the script on her lap, observing the pronunciation of actors. When conducting workshops and script-reading sessions with them, her over 20 years of experience as a dubbing artiste often helps. Having trained Kangana Ranaut for Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015) and Aamir Khan for Dangal (2016), Sharma remains unassuming. “For me, actors are like my primary school students,” she says. “I forget their stature in Bollywood. I only see them as the character.” Sharma, a former teacher, doesn’t hesitate in telling actors when they go wrong. She even suggests that scenes be reshot. “People often tell me I shouldn’t be such a stickler.”
Trainers might want perfection, but are stars just as keen to get it right? Rajiv Mehra, fitness trainer and cricket coach, found that Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor were equally invested when he trained them for ’83 and Jersey, respectively. Mehra, 33, didn’t just have to teach them cricket, he also had to make them adopt the mindset of sportsmen. “For some actors, fitness has always been about aesthetics,” he says. “Playing a sport is always about performance. You have to train and move in a way that you can perform skills like batting, bowling and running. It requires physical acumen.” Mehra says he achieved this for his stars by making changes to their training routine: “Rather than muscle building, the focus was more on movement. It was all about being on ground and training like an athlete, not so much on extreme diet or weight training.”
Like Mehra, Nooshin Al Khadeer, former cricketer and current coach of the Railways women’s side, is now working with Pannu for Shabaash Mithu, a biopic on her teammate, friend and Indian ODI captain Mithali Raj. “Taapsee keeps reminding me that ‘main cricketer nahin hoon, mujhe sirf batting karna hai [I’m not a cricketer. I just need to learn batting],” says Al Khadeer. “I pull her leg and ask her to play for Delhi Association so that I can get the Dronacharya Award.” As she sees Pannu pick up Raj’s trademark shots, Al Khadeer notes, “It is easier to mould someone who does not know anything. What you teach now will remain with them for longer.”
