~*Sushant's Bollywood Journey#19*~ - Page 105

After a slow 2015, Sushant Singh Rajput is having quite a few interesting line-ups in the coming times. After wrapping up with M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story, Sushant has moved on to his next film, Dinesh Vijan's Raabta with Kriti Sanon. While the actors have shared about their horse riding lessons on social media, the two will be seen doing some breathtaking underwater scenes in the film.

An incredible dancer, the actor is a novice in swimming. Hence, Sushant and Kriti learnt swimming from aquatic celebrity trainer Farzad Billimoria for their upcoming film Raabta. When asked Farzad about Sushant and Kriti's underwater training, he said, "I am just training them basic swimming, breathing exercises and holding breath in different way for different depth of water."

When quizzed him about Sushant's swimming skills, Farzad said, "In the beginning, Sushant knew nothing about swimming. He wouldn't have been able to save his life in waters. But in a month's time, he picked up the skill well. Now, he is more confident and will do everything underwater. From diving, staying underwater to whatever I ask him to do, he will do it like a pro."

Although, it was a fast for Sushant to break, Kriti took some time to become comfortable with waters. Reportedly, Kriti said that she was scared of water initially and is slowly getting comfortable with the water. She also revealed that it was because of the role, she could breakthrough her fear. Speaking about the same, Farzad said, "Kriti was petrified with water initially. I had to take that out and then slowly train her. We have a fun 45 minutes to one hour session."

Probed further about the session, Farzad said, "We try innovative ways to teach them rather doing the monotonous routine every day. The most important thing was to keep their minds diverted. I have got a newspaper laminated and would ask them read them under water. I would put different pebbles down and they actually go criss-cross and pick up not realising how much longer they stayed underwater. Slowly, they got better."

Interestingly, Sushant and Kriti learnt the art of swimming so well that they could stay much longer time underwater. When asked him about their underwater performance, the aquatic expert said, "Sushant almost stayed under water for two minutes and I actually had to touch him to confirm if he was there. Kriti has almost crossed a min and half under water. Holding breath for that long is difficult and that was exactly what I was training them for." Although Farzad give the basic training, he doesn't visit the sets to supervise their performance. "I don't go the sets and supervise there. I train here the entire thing. They are almost done over here before they go. They have their own expertise over there," he added.

With the first schedule of the film already started in South Africa, the film is all set to release on February 10 next year.