Fighting stars: Bollywood actresses too are punching their way into action flicks

Once upon a time, the Indian actress was the damsel in distress, needing to be ‘saved’ by the dauntless hero (from ill-tempered parents, psycho villains, an arranged marriage, and so on). There were those who dared to buck the trend Vijayashanti in her numerous police avatars or more recently, Simran in a few movies but as progressive as these roles were, the idea of a ‘femme fatale who could also kick a**’ never really looked possible.

But today’s glam girls play characters that mean business and can take on some serious action if the mean moment arises. Be it Priyanka Chopra in Mary Kom, Shilpa Shetty in Dus, or even Aishwarya Rai in Jodha Akbar actresses are ready to go that extra step to train their guts out and get in stunning shape.

Hansika Motwani, known for portraying that classic bubbly, naive look in her films, will be wielding swords in Vijay 58, in which she is cast as a princess. The actress posted excitedly on social media recently that she’d been practising her sword-fighting and that it was “a bit scary”.

The fantasy flick’s team has even seen to it that Hansika is being trained by a team of stuntmen from Hong Kong. She’s acted in 40 films until now, but this will be the first time she is taking on the baddies herself.

Strenuous work-out routines, functional training, Krav Maga classes, are all part of a day’s work now, as an action role is demanding in the preparation. Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah are also believed to be carrying out stunt sequences for the upcoming Baahubali.

Former Miss India Manasvi Mamgai spent a month training in the ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu for Action Jackson. “I play a sexy, gangster in the movie and it was essential that I prepped accordingly for the project. I trained with the theatre group Adi Shakthi in Pondy. Ajay Devgn then introduced me to his commando trainer, Shifuji, who coached me as well,” she says.

The debutante, who is part of the Prabhu Deva-helmed project, says that nowadays heroines too want to match their male counterparts on screen.

“Acting with someone like Ajay Devgn does put pressure on you to look super-fit alongside him, as he’s got that charismatic swagger in all the stunt or action sequences. I had to put on weight and tone my body accordingly to perfect the look,” she says. Model-turned-actress Kriti Sanon is yet another beauty who’ll be giving the saris and mini-skirts a miss for track suits and boxing gloves shortly. Elated to play a character adept in kick boxing in her upcoming Bollywood flick, Singh is Bling, opposite Akshay Kumar, the actress says that she’s been practising for ages now. “Akshay wanted me to get trained in kick boxing as he believed it would help in canning the scenes naturally. I’m enjoying it, it has become my new fitness mantra. I debuted in an action film but I had no such scenes to perform. Now, I’m  excited that I’m doing stunt sequences in the Khiladi’s film!”

Maybe the day is not too far off when we can see an Indian version of Charlie’s Angels or Salt on our screens.