ACTOR Vivaan Shah, whose latest release is Ikkis, revealed that he had to “consciously work on looking more mature” in the war film starring AgastyaNanda and late star Dharmendra. Speaking about the transformation, Vivaan said: “For this role, I had to consciously work on looking more mature. Interestingly, just before Ikkis, I was shooting for anotherprojectwhere Ihad to appear much younger than my actual age.” However, the shift was drastic when “Ikkis” came his way in August last year.

 

“I had to do the complete opposite—build myself up and look more muscular,” he added. The actor, who is the son of acclaimed star Naseeruddin Shah, said that the first thing he did was pick up the dumbbells. “I hadn’t touched weights for almost a year, so I shifted to an entirely different workout regime focused on strength training,aiming for a slightly more military-style physique,” he shared. While acknowledging that such a transformation takes years to perfect, the actor credited the film’s physical training schedule for helping him significantly.

 

“The training we did in Ahmed nagar made a huge difference. We went through a basic boot camp with drills and PT, which helped immensely,” Vivaan said. He also spoke about the demanding nature of the shoot, stating that handling tanks and performing physically challenging scenes added depth to his performance. “The tank training  was especially memorable— we even got to drive the tanks ourselves,” he concluded.

 

Ikkis is directed by Sriram Raghavan. It also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Simar Bhatia. It is based on the life of Arun Khetarpal, the youngest recipient of the Param Vir Chakra award, and centered around the Battle of Basantar during the 1971 India–Pakistan War. The film's title is in reference to the age at which Arun Khetarpal attained martyrdom.