Starry punch

G.S. Paul chats up Deepak Das, who directs action sequences in films and teaches wushu to Bollywood stars

Coming from a middle-class family in the strife-torn Nagaland, Deepak Das had only one dream a decade back — to make it big in the Hindi film industry as a fight choreographer. Today, this 27-year-old’s dreams have been realised. He is not only directing action sequences in movies, but has also been teaching wushu, a Chinese martial art, to big names in Bollywood.

Das, a Bengali, began learning wushu at the age of 10 to equip himself with a self-defence technique as racial violence is a serious problem in the north-eastern states.

After completing his graduation from Manipur University, Das decided to teach wushu, then a relatively unknown form of martial arts, in Mumbai in 1990. Das won the gold medal at the Annual Asian Wushu Championship held at Gujarat in 1997. "By this time I was also taking classes at an elite club in suburban Mumbai where a lot of film stars came. It is there that I met actor Pooja Bedi, who introduced me to other members of the film fraternity."

As an authorised instructor of the sport, his clientele includes some of the top stars in the Hindi film industry. Having trained celebrities like Kabir Bedi, Lara Dutta, Diana Hayden and Suman Ranganathan, Ayesha Shroff, and Shruti Seth (VJ) besides a host of television stars, Das says wushu is a way of life and not just a martial art. "Wushu helps in balancing the physical and mental faculties, which in turn enhances concentration."

The soft Chinese music, played in the background, helps the body flow with a rhythm and this is what exercising is all about. "Aches and pains occur when your body and mind is not in harmony with your environment."

Das is also an exponent of tai chi, considered by experts to be a softer form of wushu. "Tai means large or supreme and chi means life energy needed to circulate the blood in the body. Tai chi is referred to as ‘a moving meditation’ because you focus on your palm and keep moving and performing acts which help you focus as you connect with the earth and the cosmic energy," explains Das.

Das recommends tai chi for beginners. Das recounts an interesting incident related to Kabir Bedi, who approached him prior to the mega hit series Survivor, shot in Italy in September 2004. "Fourteen celebrities from Italy (where Bedi has a huge fan following after the success of his Italian serial Sandokan) were selected to take part. As part of the show, they had to spend 14 weeks on an isolated island where no cooking was allowed and food had to be foraged from whatever was available from the island. Bedi took up a course in tai chi to help him increase his immune system because they had to survive only on fruit available on the island. He rang me up from there when he passed the preliminary test, for which he had to move over wooden logs hanging 100 feet above the ground. He could do it because he had learnt the art of transferring body weight," says a visibly proud Das.

His tales of accomplishments are endless: the director of Kyu Ho Gaya Na was so impressed by Das that he inserted his action sequences specially in the film; he has a spot as Ninja in the serial Avishkaar; and at present has his hands full directing action sequences for three to four films.