Dangerous stunts - Bollywood beauties game for it

New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) Cuts and bruises are no bar. From Priyanka Chopra to Deepika Padukone to Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood actresses are willingly treading on treacherous terrain as they get into action mode like their male co-stars.

'Just because I'm a girl it shouldn't be presumed that I can't enter the boys' territory. I'd do the stunts better than the boys,' Priyanka told IANS.

The actress, who was seen as Abhishek Bachchan's bodyguard in 'Drona', learnt the Sikh martial art form called gatka for the film. She also underwent rigorous training and learnt kung fu for her character in Farhan Akhtar's 'Don'.

'I quite enjoyed the cuts and bruises,' said Priyanka who has replaced action star Akshay Kumar as the host of TV show 'Khatron Ke Khiladi'.

She will be performing some of the most daring stunts as the host of the show. Currently she is shooting for it in the jungles of Coorg, Karnataka, and a special gym has been set up for her there.

Aishwarya, who turned into a stunt woman for the 2006 hit movie 'Dhoom 2', will once again be seen stretching the risk factor in Mani Ratnam's forthcoming release 'Raavan' as well as Shankar's 'Endhiran'.

'Aishwarya suffered all the wounds, pain, fever and insect bites heroically in the forests. For all the dangerous scenes, she hardly ever used a duplicate. She was totally up to the task,' said her 'Raavan' co-star Vikram.

Deepika is not far behind. She gave a glimpse of her daring side in 'Chandni Chowk To China' where she played a Chinese girl and jumped over walls and did somersaults as a martial art expert.

In Pradeep Sarkar's 'Lafange Parindey', she will be seen taking a dip in a deep mud pit even though her co-star Neil Nitin Mukesh was reported to have asked for a body double to do the same scene.

'Yes, I did jump into the hole to make it look like an accidental fall. That's what was required to make the fall look convincing,' Deepika told a website.

Katrina Kaif too is getting into action mode for Zoya Akhtar's 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. She is learning dirt biking for her role.

And last but not the least, Kareena Kapoor, who scorched the headlines for her size zero, will be in a full-on action role in 'Agent Vinod' opposite beau Saif Ali Khan.

Commenting on her role, Saif said: 'She does play an undercover agent from another country. Kareena will do everything I do in the film, and she'll do it even better. She will kick butt better than all the other girls in our industry; that's for sure.'

Last year Lara Dutta turned into action heroine for the thriller 'Blue' and performed stunts 70 feet under water with sharks.

Veteran actor Kamal Haasan's daughter Shruti gave a glimpse of her courage in her very first film, 'Luck', opposite Imran Khan. She was seen doing everything - from flying down a parachute, to escaping killer sharks underwater to being tied to a speeding engine.

Stunts no longer remain a male dominated territory.

(Priyanka Sharma can be contacted at [email protected] )