Action star Vidyut Jammwal is currently seen as the Dojo Master on the show, India’s Ultimate Warrior. Vidyut’s role in the show is to guide the mentors and the warriors to achieve their goals. The show features mentors from across the world including Killer Bi (Pro MMA Fighter), Shifu Kanishka (Shaolin Kungfu GrandMaster), Mykel Hawke (Special Forces Veteran), and Shaun Kober (Combat Veteran).
Vidyut recently talked about it in a recent interview with BT and shared, “When we got these mentors on board, we were asked why we are getting people who don’t speak the language. Whenever I travel across India and I meet athletes, they say that they want to travel abroad majorly to get trained by international coaches. So, I thought if I have the opportunity to train them, why not train them with the best of the world. Master Shifu, Killer Bi, Hawke, and Shaun, they are the best at what they do. It was amazing to see the student-teacher bond. And why not represent our culture because the seeds have germinated here. Right from – yoga, martial arts, everything has originated here, why shy away from it.”
Talking about the relationship between the mentors and the warriors, he said, “When we were conceiving the show, the idea was we will have disciples, mentors and a Master – the Gurukul ‘parampara.’ Where I was teaching, somebody was teaching music, somebody was teaching how to paint, on top of them there was another guru, my master who would teach everything. I would love my master because if I wanted to take a break, he would say let’s drink tea, let him not go but the teachings were quite good. So, this is the format of the Gurukul where the mentors are hard yet gentle. For me, on this show, I love everybody and I wasn’t biased. You can also see the emotions that if you feel proud for somebody, you do feel proud, whether it was from the other side.”
When asked how he stays calm in every situation with a smile on his face, he replied, “This training is supposed to be done like that. When I meet people and they say how hard-working the warriors are. I do get surprised because if it’s hard-working then it’s not pleasurable. If I am painting something, I am enjoying it not because I am in school but because I love it. Similarly, when I am training, I go to learners and I give it my all. This is how I work in life. In the show, I was supposed to enjoy myself seeing what people are doing, and correct the mentors on what they should do. I was enjoying it because I have been guided by masters like these in my life who they really love. Enthusiasm is better medicine than giving pain. I’ve seen people work better under love that’s what I’ve been saying and that’s how I did this show.”
The show has witnessed fights where women were pitted against men, talking about it Vidyut shared, “I don’t feel anything different, I feel normal. In this crew, we have around 152 people and nobody for once said, ‘How will she fight this monster of a man’ and some of them did. Now, that it’s my show why not make it something that I believe in and from experiences. It’s amazing how these women fight. It strengthens them when you say, ‘Fight like a woman,’ don’t tell them ‘Fight like a man.’ Nobody was telling women, ‘Wow, you fought like a man’ and that was my biggest high.”
When asked how does it feel to be an inspiration for so many people, Vidyut replied, “I feel very proud of those people because they’ve broken their own barriers. If you have a fear of something, confront it and that’s what we did on the show also. It’s not just Rs 10 lakh, it’s ‘wow, the winner will get this, I could win it.’ That was an amazing gesture.”
The actor concluded by talking about his upcoming movies. He shared, “I’ve got Khuda Hafiz 3 releasing now. I am working on my home production, IB 71, it’s on the Intelligence Bureau and then I have Commando 3.”
