Kunal Kapoor who plays a Kalaripayattu warrior in Jayaraj's trilingual period drama, Veeram, set in 13th century Kerala, reveals that it would take him nearly four hours to get ready for the shoot. `Trefor Proud, who has worked on over 50 films and TV shows, including Gladiator, Star Wars: Episode I -The Phantom Menace, The Gospel of John, Ender's Game and Topsy-Turvy which bagged him an Oscar has designed my look for the film.

Four other guys who have specialised in the make up for a Kalari martial artist before he goes out to battle also helped. I'd wake up at 4 am and tune into heavy metal music to do away with sleep as I sat through makeup', informs Kunal.


He also trained for five months before the shoot, putting on twelve-and-a-half kgs of muscles to look like a warrior who is intimidating but not too bulked up. Kunal broke his workout schedule into three parts of 20-minutes each. The first was scheduled in the morning, the next at noon and the final one after pack up, as they used to shoot 17-18 hours. `We filmed some parts in Thiruvananthapuram and Agra and the major portions in the Ajanta and Ellora Caves. I created a temporary gym there with some weights, big lamps and a bunch of chairs', he reminisces.

The 39-year-old actor also spent three months learning Kalaripayattu and got weapon training as well with traditional swords and the urumi (a sword with a flexible whip-like blade). The biggest challenge was filming in Hindi, English and Malayalam simultaneously. `Malayalam was tough and minor nuances in the performance would change depending on the language`, he points out.