Health, Mind, Beauty and Relations: AT 11, I HAD DONE MARTIAL ART SHOWS IN 30 COUNTRIES Vidyut Jammwal

AT 11, I HAD DONE MARTIAL ART SHOWS IN 30 COUNTRIES

Vidyut Jammwal, 32, has been trained in Kalaripayattu, ‘the mother of all martial arts’, from the age of three. By the age of 11, he had done martial art shows in over 30 countries. At 14, he read the Vedas. He is happy to be typecast an action hero as that is what he was born to do. Ahead of his action-based love story Commando, he talks to Bombay Times about his unique action skills, why he does not miss his father and the false rumour of his secret marriage to girlfriend Mona Singh. Excerpts:
How did you get into martial arts? I am a Rajput, was born in Kanpur and my dad was in the army. When I was a year and a half, I was taken away to my mother’s ashram in Palakkad, Kerala, that she started and is the head of. She does Kathakali in Kalari and is a master in Reiki. I am still associated with the ashram where, at the age of three, I started learning Kalaripayattu, the mother of all martial arts in the world. It is an amazing art but is dead as it has not been marketed well like Kung Fu and other Chinese martial arts. All other martial arts come from this one that was started by an Indian Bodhi Dharma. He moved from India to China and started the Shaolin temple. He was in the space of spirituality and awareness of the human body. I was fortunate to learn it without even realising it. It involves a lot of Yoga, meditation and Kalari. I used to do these small shows from the age of five with a lot of weapons. Later, I studied in Army Public School, a boarding school in Kasauli, Simla and would go back to Kerala during vacations. By the age of 11, I had travelled 30 countries doing martial art shows. I would play with sticks and would be placed in the front and that gave me a big high. By the age of 14, I had finished reading the Vedas, that for me were just stories.
What does it take to be as fit as you are? Being fat and fit is better than being unfit but thin. You can’t squeeze in through a car window by training for three months. I can walk up a wall, do a back trip and come down. I used to train nine to ten hours. Earlier, I just wanted to do shows as it gave me a big high. But when I moved to Mumbai, I really wanted to be an action guy. And I realised that you can’t do the action you want unless you’re the hero. I did Force, which had little action and then I played the villain in Tamil blockbusters Thuppaki and Billa 2. I can look at someone’s body and tell you everything about it. I really aspire to inspire people. There are 15 boys I train with every morning from 4.45 am to 9 am. Each of the boys is from a different background ranging from being a compounder to a vada pao seller to a driver to a broomseller and need to go to work after our training. But they are amazing human beings with great body ability.
You could get typecast with action. Are you fine with that? I was born to do action and don’t mind getting typecast. I disagree that action cannot sell. We have not done action in India yet and have not been trained in it. The action choreography for Commando has been done by me. Post the trailer, a lot of people from Hollywood mentioned it on Facebook and tweeted about it. That gave me a big high as an Indian. I don’t believe in patterns. I played a negative role in my debut film and still won the Filmfare award for Best Debut. I want to be the best action star in the world and at least, I have come to this stage. The international world is totally empty and I am so ready for it that if the Divine wants, it will happen. I have been training for this for as long as I can remember.
Does your family live with you in Mumbai? I lost my father 15 years ago. I have an older brother and sister with whom my mother lives with in London. I moved to Mumbai after my father’s death and initially modelled to earn money after which I came into the film industry. I did not cry when my dad passed away as I know the science. Being happy is a constant in my life. There is this 14-year-old boy who plays football and his father accompanies him every day to the stadium knowing that he is not the best player on the team. There are 11 members in the team and this boy just sits on the bench but his father diligently goes with him. The school tournament starts and the boy never gets a chance but the father nevertheless accompanies him everyday. The first, second, seventh match happens and they are playing well but the boy doesn’t play. The team reaches the semi-final and the father is still accompanying him. Surprisingly, when the team reaches the finals, he goes to the stadium without the father and the team plays badly that day and is down 2-0. Five minutes before the end of the game, the boy goes up to his coach and says, ‘Please sir let me play today’. The coach says, ‘Not today, son’. He begs him and asks him for just one minute on the field and the coach gives him the chance. He scores three goals in one minute and they win. The coach goes to him and says I misjudged you and asked him about his dad. He said, Sir, I lost my dad last night. He was blind and could not see. All these years he thought I was playing even though I was not. Last night he passed away and I played for him today and gave my 100 per cent’. So when I lost my father, I knew I have lost him but had not lost him.
It was rumoured that you secretly married Mona Singh whom you had confessed to being in a relationship with? Is that true. No, it’s not true.
Who are you most attached to? I am most emotionally connected to myself and love every cell in my body and there is divine intelligence in that. There is only one person whom I am petrified of and who has slapped me and that is my sister.
I love humanity and have always respected women as I feel they are superior to men. I am trying hard to be the man my mom wanted me to be: a good man before being a big man.