‘Ikkis’ star Vivaan Shah reveals how he prepped for his role; ‘I had to consciously work on looking more mature’

Actor Vivaan Shah has recently been garnering a lot of attention online after the release of his latest hit ‘Ikkis.’ During a recent interview, the actor delved into how he prepared for the serious and daring role, and how he had to make the effort to act and look more mature than he is in order to bring justice to the character that he was playing. While talking to IANS about the drastic transformation it took for him to make his character on ‘Ikkis’ a success, the actor revealed that he had to put in a lot of effort. Further elaborating on his comment, he added that, “For this role, I had to consciously work on looking more mature. Interestingly, just before Ikkis, I was shooting for another project where I had to appear much younger than my actual age. I had to do the complete opposite-build myself up and look more muscular.”In order to prepare for the role, the moment he accepted it, he started exercising again as regularly as possible. He said that he hadn’t exercised in almost a year, however he knew that ‘Ikkis’ would take a lot of physical toll on his body, which he had to prepare for. He added, “The training we did in Ahmednagar made a huge difference. We went through a basic boot camp with drills and PT, which helped immensely. The tank training was especially memorable-we even got to drive the tanks ourselves.”‘Ikkis’ is a war epic drama that is based on the life of Arun Khetarpal, one of the youngest people to be awarded the Param Veer Chakra for his bravery and sacrifice for the safety of his country. Set during the 1971 India-Pakistan war, ‘Ikkis’ is loosely based on the Battle of Basantar.