Jodhaa Akbar is one of the biggest films of 2008, releasing next week, with stars like Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. The stage film involved a lot of action and fight scenes that took a lot out of the actor as well as the stunt director Ravi Dewan.

Indiatimes Movies spoke to the man behind the action to know more about how he handled Hrithik and Ash and how the two mastered the art of horse-riding and sword-fighting. “Initially we started off with just storyboards for every scene in the film and we put up storyboards for about a month. We sat with the production team and Ashutosh Gowariker too joined us” says Ravi Diwan.

“I was training about 15 to 17 actors in Jodhaa Akbar for these fight sequences. I had to teach Hrithik, Ash, Sonu Sood and the main villain Nikitin Dheer both horse riding and sword-fighting. And each of these action sequence took about a month and a half to complete. Firstly I had to train them in horse riding for which we had to book the Mahalaxmi Race Course for about a month. It was a lot of effort but in the end I am sure it will be worth it.”

Apart from horse-riding, Jodhaa Akbar also witnessed Hrithik and Aishwarya learning the art of sword-fighting. Ravi Dewan says, “The training for sword-fighting took place at Mehboob studios and we shot for about 45 days at a stretch. Both actors were very professional about knowledge sword-fighting.” Ravi Dewan is one of the oldest action directors in business, who has been around Bollywood for a long time. But it was the first time that he was working with Hrithik Roshan.

“Yes, after being around for so many years I worked with Hrithik for the first time. I have worked with the best of the lot right from Raj Kumar to all the Khans. And let me tell you that teaching Hrithik wasn’t too much of a labour for me. He never threw any tantrums and the same was with Aishwarya as well.” Hrithik Roshan had it appears that spoken about the fact that the armour that he had to wear to play the character of the Mughal emperor Akbar was pretty heavy, after which he was in a lot of pain. “We had to show real stuff in the film. So yes, the armour and the gear that Hrithik had to wear was heavy. The whole thing weighed around 20 to 25 kilos and he had to wear it regularly.

But he never showed any pain, at least not when he was around the sets. Anyways I always take care of the stars I am working with. I never try to push their limits. I was always aware of their capacity.” “Me and my assistant rehearse every fight first. Then after preparing everything on the sets we shot the entire sequence on location.

After which we sat down and edited those shots and included only those that were required. And we worked in mountain bike with the costume designer, art director and everyone else on the sets of the film. Everything on the sets was detailed”, divulge the technician.