Warrior spirit: Ankit Anil Sharma goes the distance for each role he essays

Essaying the role of a warrior on screen is fraught with challenges, but actor Ankit Anil Sharma enjoyed each moment of the shoot for the recently released period film Chhaava, headlined by the much-talented Vicky Kaushal. Just like he is doing on the sets of Geetu Mohandas’ film Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown Ups, featuring KGF actor Yash in the lead role.

About his experience of working with the Kannada superstar Yash, Ankit shared, “Yash is very detail-oriented; he understands each scene deeply and also offers suggestions for improvement. Behind a happy-go-lucky guy is a very serious actor. It was great fun being with him on sets.”

Known for his roles in Gulaab Gang, Turtle, Waah Zindagi, Mimamsa and the successful series Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Ankit was overjoyed when he was offered the role of Santaji Ghorpade in Chhaava.

“The film was based on the life of my idol, Sambhaji Maharaj, so I was really happy. I also wanted to work with Laxman sir and Maddock Productions, so you could say that this one film brought everything together for me,” he begins.

When one is playing a role of such enormity, where the past is being recreated and that too on a lavish scale, there are bound to be challenges, but Ankit took them up with much enthusiasm. “The biggest challenge was achieving a warrior-like physique while maintaining flexibility to swing swords and move quickly. A warrior needs to be light on his feet, but strong with the hands. I adopted traditional methods, imagining how Santaji Ghorpade might have trained. I joined an akhada and focused on the basics, like dand-bethak and uthak-bethak, repeating them countless times. The idea was to do fewer variations of exercises, but with a high number of sets to build endurance and strength.”

Ankit learned the nuances of horse-riding and sword fighting for the role too, especially traditional Maharashtrian shastra vidya. “By the time we were performing action sequences on set, the footwork had become second nature to us,” he beams.

Talking about Vicky Kaushal, Ankit says he was incredibly supportive and cooperative. “He was always there to help us and I still remember how he would personally give us cues during scenes. I’ve never met someone as genuine and simple as Vicky. He’s someone who ensures everyone moves forward together. Rashmika was equally impressive. I was amazed to see how she had memorised all her Hindi lines perfectly and delivered them so fluently. I genuinely enjoyed working with both of them,” he signs off.

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