An "authentic" martial arts film is set to hit theatres and enthral audiences with real combats for which no protective gears have been used, claim makers of "Ranviir the Marshal".
Scheduled for opening this October, it stars Rishab 'Rishi' Sharma, a black belt in martial arts, who makes his Bollywood debut with the film that is being launched by his producer father Alok Sharma.
It has been directed by Milind Ukey, known for his acclaimed Marathi film "Devki" and "Paathshaala" in Hindi.
"This is the first authentic martial arts film in Indian cinema. You will get to watch proper techniques of the kicks and the punches associated with different martial arts. Every technicality of the sport has been taken care of," Ukey told PTI during an interaction.
"This is not just an exhibition of martial arts. The whole drama, relationship and causality should emerge from martial art and that is how I have designed the film" says the director who has also scripted the film.
Four professional mixed martial arts fighters were roped in to design the combats and it took them six months to create all the fight scenes, prior to the shoot which the director says was completed in 43 days.
Over 200 original martial artists have acted in the film, shot in Dehradun, Rishikesh and Mumbai.
"We had been very professional. A typical action director can't do the martial arts fight scenes. So we hired professional martial artists, who have also acted in the movie. They designed the fights which were then executed by the action director," says Ukey.
Ukey, who spent five years with filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali as Associate Director has depicted in the film eight martial art forms including judo, karate and taekwondo.
"Essentially the storytelling was amiss in initial Indian martial arts films. It is a form that Indian filmmakers never understood. Maybe because they are not passionate about martial arts. Ranviir is not an ordinary action movie."
Alok says the USP of the film is that all the stunts and actions are real.
"We never used wires for flying kicks. They are all pure ground level real fights, combats. No extra protective gears, have been used and all stunts are originally done by the actors. If you are hit, you are done for the day," says Alok.
