'Shershaah': Here's how Indian Jawans trained actors for the heroic saga of Vikram Batra

The upcoming heroic story of martyr Vikram Batra Shershaah is all set to release on the OTT giant Amazon Prime Video on August 12. The film, which stars Sidharth Malhotra as late Captain Vikram Batra, has several scenes of war. As the actors playing army men in the film went through rigorous training, actor Pranay Pachauri recently opened up about his experience of getting trained under real-life Indian army Jawans. 

Pranay Pachauri shares his experience of army training for Shershaah

In a recent chat with ANI, actor Pranay Pachauri recently revealed his experience of his intense training under army men for the upcoming film. The actor said, "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," he added.

Pranay Pachauri plays the role of the youngest soldier in Vikram Batra's team, Rifleman Yashpaul Sharma. The actor further mentioned how the training the actors received was valuable as it made them realise the importance of unity and brotherhood in any war. He said, "From shooting positions to how to be ready in any given scenario to what goes 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."

While sharing his experience, the actor revealed how it was not easy for him to be in the shoes of Rifleman Sharma. He also mentioned how the rigorous training helped them to adapt to the climatic conditions of Ladakh. He said, "We shot the film at 12,000 to 13,000 feet in Kargil that means very little 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 our missions at real-time locations but thanks to our command 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 felt real."

Details about Shershaah

The film Shershaah casts Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani in the lead roles. The film is being helmed by Vishnuvardhan. It s the story of Captain Vikram Batra, who led the toughest operation during the Kargil war. The film, which was initially scheduled for a theatre release, would now debut on Amazon Prime Video on August 12.

IMAGE: PRANAY PACHAURI'S INSTAGRAM