Actor Sidharth Malhotra, who essayed the role of Captain Vikram Batra in his biopic film Shershaah, has been sharing some behind-the-scenes videos on his Instagram account. While sharing the videos, the actor who has been highly applauded for his portrayal of the late soldier narrated his experience of shooting the Kargil war and action sequences in the film. In the video, the director Vishnu Varadhan stated that he wanted to shoot in real locations and the Indian army gave him the opportunity. Apart from the location, the team even wanted to make the action scenes look real and raw, just like how Indian soldiers have fought.
Talking about the ‘Checkpoint Gun Fire Sequence’, Sid wrote, “This shot reminds me of the scene where we had to portray the rush, when a sudden attack takes place. The transition from a relaxed casual body language to a panicky one was something we had to get right. This was after a series of drills that I did, to learn to get the posture right, while holding a gun and firing. Something that comes naturally to a Fauji, took me some serious training.”
Describing the Kargil war, the actor further said, “This scene was particularly shot to give the audience a real life experience of challenges faced by our Indian army soldiers while keeping in mind Vikram Batra’s character. We were shooting at actual locations after having done multiple drills on military gun firing and grenade handling. The feeling of breathlessness is quite natural at 12,000 ft above sea level, although the Indian army troops are stationed at a much higher peak.”
For Sidharth Malhotra, shooting the climax scene has been ‘one of the most thrilling and memorable experiences’. “From Rocky terrains to breathlessness, we tried our best to keep the sequence as raw and real as we could. A big thank you to the Indian army. And to our Director #VishnuVaradhan, DOP, #KamaljeetNegi, Action Directors @stevearoca1967 , #SunilRodrigues and the entire crew for your hard work,” he concluded.
Shershaah also stars Kiara Advani in the lead role. Bankrolled by Karan Johar’s Dharma Production, the film was released on Amazon Prime on August 12.
Image source: Instagram/sidmalhotra