Hindustan Times :: Abhay Deol?s new love & new moves :: Krav Maga

Hindustan Times :: Abhay Deol’s new love & new moves :: Krav Maga
(My Original Blog Post: http://vickykapoor.com/delhi/hindustan-times-abhay-deol%e2%80%99s-new-love-new-moves-krav-maga/)

The Hindustan Times Newspaper

New Delhi, December 14, 2009

Abhay Deol is learning Krav Maga, an Israeli form of martial arts that Akshay Kumar is well versed with

Guess who’s following Akshay Kumar’s footsteps? Surprisingly, it is Abhay Deol, who is learning Krav Maga. It’s an Israeli form of martial art and the Khiladi Kumar is reported to be well-versed with that. So what’s the Deol dude got to do with martial arts suddenly, you might ask. Well, it’s for his next movie, Basra.

Interestingly, Akshaye Khanna was to play the lead in the film initially, when director Navdeep Singh was to direct it for Nikhil Advani’s production company. But the two parted ways due to differences and Deol stepped in to back his director ofManorama Six Feet Under.

Deol is so fascinated by Krav Maga that whenever he got time off  between shots while filming Aisha with Sonam Kapoor, he’d practise it with his trainer. Basra, which sees Deol in the role of a RAW officer, has extensive action sequences. And Deol wants to ensure that he does his stunts perfectly. Singh is planning to start the film early next year with a schedule in Iraq.

Indiainfo.com

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:48 [IST]

Mumbai: The different Deol boy, Abhay, is going all out to prepare himself for his home production Basra that will see him do action for the first time in his career. After Hrs has learnt that the actor has started training in the Israeli hand-to-hand deadly combat tactics Krav Maga. By doing this he joins Akshay Kumar, the only hero in India who can perform the art and international faces like Angelina Jolie, Michelle Yeoh and Keanu Reeves.

This deadly skill will see Abhay hit a variety of fast crippling attacks to vulnerable body parts of his enemies. He has to go through a mixed aerobic and anaerobic workout and has to also use heavy pads to protect his body from damage while training.

"The film will see me fight like a street fighter and I'm learning really fast. It is fun and I have to learn many things if I have to convincingly play an action hero. Plus, it's my home production, I cannot take any shortcuts," Abhay told DNA.

Sources close to the film reveal that the young actor has also set up a training area where he would look to challenge his body reactions and defense skills through simulated attacks. This will make him faster and agile at offense and defense. Abhay has been called a perfectionist by many critics and this clearly shows his diligent approach to cinema.

"I always believe that you have to know something to perform it with ease and convince people. Nobody buys a fake and if you are not good at something you are doing, it always shows. I know I have to perfect myself in action because that's never been my USP," he says.

When not fighting in the arena, Abhay is traveling the world visiting film festivals in Venice, Toronto, Cannes, Tribeca where he has also lectured on cinema. The actor is ecstatic that even though he has not done the so-called Bollywood masala movies, he has managed to rub shoulders with Hollywood icons like Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro, Jodie Foster, Matt Damon among others.

"Hollywood is very excited and appreciative of Indian cinema. Whenever I have met people who are greats in their own rights, they have been very inquisitive about our industry. This just shows that Indian cinema has a global presence and it is a huge achievement. There is scope for everyone to get the spotlight even if you are not a traditional Bollywood movie star. That's a healthy change for our industry," he ends.