Commando starring Vidyut Jamwal

[GeneChing]

Normally I'd post this on our Bollywood Kung-Fu!! thread, but this looks exceptional.

COMMANDO Movie Official Trailer ft. Vidyut Jamwal and Pooja Chopra

[GeneChing]

...although this 'eight martial artists chosen from different walks of life to keep him on his toes' reminds me a little of Clouseau/Kato. Nevertheless, I'm eager to see this flick. The trailer looks promising.

Vidyut Jammwal forms martial arts group for training
Published: Monday, Feb 4, 2013, 12:13 IST
By Jayoti Soor | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA


Vidyut Jammwal takes action seriously off-screen too. He relies on eight martial artists chosen from different walks of life to keep him on his toes. “He has been able to put together a team of eight men who may not fit into the ‘traditional’ definition of what you may imagine as the team of an actor. This team comprises men who come from different walks of life — from bus conductors to store keepers who he brought together after an extensive search,” confirms a source.

He visited a number of training academies first and then visited local haunts to identify men who may consider their craft a matter of survival as opposed to what the mindset of an academy trained guy would be.

The source further reveals, “Vidyut and his team train every day for a good five to six hours comprising fitness, endurance and agility training coupled with combat and martial art based stunt designing. In fact, it is believed that they were responsible for creating skeletal designs for the action sequences for Vidyut’s forthcoming film Commando along with the South African specialised stunt team.”

The stunt sequences in the trailer of the film have left people aghast as a lot of Hollywood style intense scenes have been done minus cables and stunt doubles. Vidyut insisted on all by himself. Well, it looks like Vidyut loves notching up action to the next level.

[GeneChing]

...still haven't seen this film. Anyone?

Ong-Bak team finds its Indian lead in Vidyut Jamwal
Posted by: Sanjeev Posted On: March 08, 2013 16:19 IST



The Ong-Bak team has chosen to shoot its next film at certain Indian locations and is exploring different places in the country these days. While some locations have already been short listed for filming the movie they are on the look out for some more. “Director Panna Rittikrai and his team is in India scouting locations down South to shoot the fourth installment of the franchise. They have short listed a few locations at Kovalam and the back waters of Kerala”, revealed a close source.

Not just this, it is even being heard that the makers of the Thai kickboxing action film are keen on casting an Indian actor in their movie this time. If sources are to be believed they have seen Vidyut Jamwal’s work and are quite impressed with his acting skills as well as the action sequences done by him. “They had seen some online videos of Vidyut Jamwal and they were impressed by the kind of action the boy can do”, added the source.

Jamwal has given some breathtaking action sequences in Vipul Shah’s upcoming movie Commando. The movie’s promos have already created a buzz in the industry. The actor is being praised for his dare devil acts by the general public as well as people from the industry. Amitabh Bachchan took to Twitter some time back in order to praise the actor who is said to be well-trained in martial arts.

Apparently, though Rittikrai is looking forward to casting Vidyut Jamwal in his action film he did not get a chance to meet him on his visit to India however he did send one of his representatives to the actor. “An associate of Rittikrai came to Mumbai and spoke to Jamwal about the project. The first round of meeting is over and obviously Vidyut is very excited to be a part of the international project. The modalities are being worked out. The shooting is scheduled to start in November this year”, revealed the source further.

Source: movieplus.com

[GeneChing]

It's getting a fair amount of buzz.

At 11, I had done martial art shows in 30 countries: Vidyut
Priya Gupta, TNN Mar 18, 2013, 10.02AM IST

(Vidyut Jammwal )

Vidyut Jammwal, 32, has been trained to do Kalari Payattu, 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 had 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 Times of india about his unique action skills, why he does not miss his father and the false rumour of his secret marriage with his girlfriend Mona Singh. Excerpts:

How did you get into martial arts?
I am a Rajput but my dad was in the army and was born in Kanpur. When I was a year and a half, I was taken away to my mother's ashram in Kerala in Palakkad that she started and is the head of. She does Kathakali in Kalari and is the master of Reiki. I am still associated with the ashram where, at the age of three, I started learning this martial art called Kalari Payattu, 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 into the spirituality and awareness of the human body space. 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 that was a boarding school at Kasauli, Simla and would go back during vacations to Kerala. By the age of 11, I had travelled 30 countries doing shows for martial arts. 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 into 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 a 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 pav 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. Every action choreography for Commando has been done by me. Post the trailer, a lot of people from Hollywood have noticed this and this gives 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. My 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 goes with 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.

[GeneChing]

Come on people. We're lagging here.

Why Bollywood is crazy about 'Kalaripayattu'
Rohit Vats, IBNLive.com | Updated Apr 10, 2013 at 04:03pm IST

New Delhi: Vidyut Jamwal made his presence felt as a villain in 'Force' (2011) and kept John Abraham on his toes throughout the film. Once again, Vidyut is ready to hit the silver screen, literally, with his latest film 'Commando - A One Man Army' in which he is all set to showcase his martial art skills.

Vidyut is said to have trained in the ancient Indian form of martial art called Kalaripayattu for 'Commando'. Kalaripayattu is one of the oldest warfare techniques practiced in South India.

Kalaripayattu originated in Kerala and it's a combination of attack, defence and healing. There is a reason why Kalaripayattu is treated as the mother of all popular martial art forms. Most of the martial art forms include attacking and defending but rarely does an art thinks of the consequences. Kalaripayattu becomes important here as it consists of some therapy methods as well.


Vidyut is ready to hit the silver screen, literally, with his latest film \'Commando - A One Man Army\'.

Many communities including the Nairs and Ezhavas provide a patronage to Kalaripayattu which is also helpful in becoming a good dancer. Sometimes, Kathakali dancers use Kalaripayattu to give a new dimension to their performance.

Kalaripayattu is no lesser than a rhythmic dance if performed with attention. It uses weapons as well which adds charm to the synchronisation of the fighters. Hollywood adopted the classic style of aerial fighting long back and the resultant was a mesmerising fight sequence in films such as 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' and 'Kill Bill'.

Later, Jackie Chan brought a new perspective to it when he invited G Sathyanarayanan, an expert of Kalaripayattu, to take part in the shooting of 'The Myth'. Chan probably realised that the skills required to practice Kalaripayattu in its purest form have their roots in ancient oriental traditions. Further, Kalari, the place or school where the pupils are trained, has similarities with Shaolin temples, a tradition well known to Jackie Chan.

Kalaripayattu lost a bit of its importance when the British masters introduced the modern means of warfare. Technically advanced weapons hampered the essence of Kalaripayattu which was more helpful during the guerrilla wars. However, films came to its rescue and once again it started rising in prominence. Films like 'Ondanondu kaladalli', 'Indian' and 'Asoka' brought it to the public view and then 'The Myth' made it international. Doug Lefler's 2007 film 'The Last Legion', which starred Colin Firth, also showcased Kalaripayattu. Japanese comic books have also explored the possibility of blending Kalaripayattu with other martial art forms. At one point of time, Asin and Kamal Haasan were supposed to work in a film based on Kalaripayattu.

Now, all eyes are on Vidyut, and if he performs Kalariayattu properly then it will be another firm step to promote this ancient Indian fighting technique.

I'm glad that they credited Jackie and TM. That was groundbreaking.