Mr & Mrs Mahi cricket coach Vikrant Yeligeti: ‘They wanted her to become a cricketer’

Getting Janhvi ready to ace the sport for Mr & Mrs Mahi, cricket coach Yeligeti on enabling the fit actor to develop athleticism for film

When director Sharan Sharma approached Vikrant Yeligeti and Abhishek Nayar to get Janhvi Kapoor ready to face the ball on the cricket pitch for Mr & Mrs Mahi, he had a simple instruction. “He said, she needed to truly become a cricketer,” says Yeligeti, asserting that “everything that you see on the screen was done by her”. “It’s all authentic, and to make that happen, Abhishek and I, who were the consultants on the project, enabled her to think like a cricketer. Abhishek was sure that she needed to be around cricketers. So, we took her to train with top cricketers so that she could learn how they think, and move, and notice their mannerisms. We told her what a wide shot is, and explained the situations in which a cricketer plays in a certain way. These things would enable her to understand the sport,” he shares, adding that once the ambiance became familiar to the young actor, they began to get her physically ready for the part. 

“We went in with the knowledge that she is into weight training, and was practicing general fitness patterns, like people do. The thing that we had to take into consideration was that we needed to make her athletic. Weight lifting involves static movements, and we wanted her to move like a cricketer does. We needed her to run like an athlete, and that’s why we first brought in a conditioning coach who worked on her running technique. For the first few months, day in and day out, we focussed on the drills, and how she moved on the field, and aimed to make her run like a batter does after hitting the ball. We needed to build strength in her hip flexors, and enhance the mobility of her joints to facilitate a full range of motion. This would help her look elegant, and rhythmic while running.” 

While the cardiovascular work was one aspect of her training regimen, Kapoor also had to enhance her power-movements, which help “batters hit the ball”. Her general fitness pattern—involving weight lifting and pilates—had enabled her to develop tremendous strength in her lower body. “Her stabilisers were absolutely on point,” says Yeligeti, further discussing the aspects that needed attention. “If I have to differentiate between these sessions and a general lifting bout in the gym, I would discuss the tempo of the movements. In traditional sessions, involving movements like deadlifts, squats, and lunges, the tempo is generally slow. But when you want to build explosive power for a sport, as is demanded in cricket, you need to have speedy movements. They are quick and powerful. You need to move weights from one point to another swiftly. That’s the kind of pattern that she had to master. Cricket also involves movements that challenge the torso. So, we performed wood chops, and exercises that could be executed in different directions.” 

In an interview with mid-day, the team behind the making of Kabir Khan’s 83 (2021) chronicled the extensive process put in place to make the cast camera-ready as they replicated the cricketing legends who brought home the World Cup in 1983. In distinguishing his task from that of the Ranveer Singh-starrer, Yeligeti highlights that they were not bound by a defined template when teaching Kapoor the sport. “She didn’t have to look like anyone else. If Janhvi Kapoor became a cricketer, this is how she would look. We assessed her during the first week, and understood the skills that she had, and the ones that she needed to work on. Thereafter, we addressed her needs as we would [any other player]. Certain shots came easily to her, others needed work. There was no reference point when we started working with her.”

Yeiigeti

Kapoor’s journey, however, was not without challenges. “Tackling her injury became the central focus point for us. It’s rare [for someone] to have loose shoulders that pop out easily. One can’t do much about it. We had to tape her before every batting session so that we could keep her shoulders in a stable position. Of course, a lot of work on the stabiliser muscles was done, and we had to be mindful of the number of balls she was hitting, daily. Because everyone had to be cognisant of the fact that she could only play a certain number of balls, we had to ensure everything fell into place. We started to train in July 2021. She suffered her first injury a few months into training while playing the inside-out shot. We had to take a four-month break. We started training again thereafter, but, in a matter of six months, she suffered her second injury during the switch hit. Again, she had to go on a four-month break. Subsequently, we began to train with more precaution.”

The Cheats: Amyra Dastur

What’s your cheat meal: 
Chilli cheese naan and dal makhani.

How often do you indulge: 
More often than not, it is once in a week, and usually on Sundays.

Cheat meal Vs cheat day: 
It is a single portion. I would feel too guilty to [indulge] all day.

Do you compensate for it: 
I usually do not train on the day I have a cheat meal. I would only do 15 minutes of cardiovascular work before the meal. The next day, I will train a bit harder.

Inside Dino Morea’s Fridge

Yogurt
Ice cream
Coconut water
Chocolate
Assorted sauces

Fitness tip that works for

Shakti Mohan
Both yoga and pilates are essential for dancers. Yoga helps people understand how to breathe in different postures,and pilates helps them build strength.

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