Ahead of the release of 'Shershaah' movie, actor Pranay Pachauri, who will be seen in the role of an army man, opened up about his experience of getting intense training under real-life Indian jawans.
"To understand the mind of a soldier, we had to mingle, talk and train with jawans to get a better understanding of their psyche. We were given a lot of tactical training and inputs from army personnel's on how to shoot, hide, run and respond to commands on a mountainous terrain like Kargil. We were taught how to dismantle, clean our rifles and reassemble them all under a minute," Pranay told ANI.
Directed by Vishnu Varadhan, 'Shershaah' is based on the life of Param Vir Chakra awardee Vikram Batra, who laid down his life in the service of the nation while recapturing Indian territories from Pakistani intruders during the Kargil War in 1999. And due to his immense bravery, he was given the title of 'Sher Shah' (Lion King). Actor Sidharth Malhotra is essaying the titular role of the late Vikram Batra.
Speaking more about the training, Pranay added: "From shooting positions to how to be ready for action in any given scenario to what goes on in our head while we are facing the enemy, they taught us such valuable things. They made us realise how 'Brotherhood' is the main weapon, source of courage and bravery where they would sacrifice themselves to protect each other and the country."
Pranay plays Rifleman Yashpaul Sharma, the youngest soldier in Vikram Batra's team, in the upcoming film. It was not at all easy for him to step into the shoes of an army man.
"We Shot the film at 12,000 to 13,000 feet in Kargil that means very less oxygen and the weather was unpredictable and it was extremely tough for our bodies to acclimatise as we were using real rifles and we had to fight, shoot, run and carry out missions at real-time locations but thanks to our commando training we were quick to adapt. It was eerie to shoot in such real-time locations, imagining this is how it must have been, this is how it must have felt during the Kargil war. We could see Pakistan from our shooting location and knowing that they could probably see us shooting .. it just gave us goosebumps and for some moments it all felt real," he said.
'Shershaah', which also features Kiara Advani, is scheduled to release on August 12 on Amazon Prime Video.
( With inputs from ANI )
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