Mumbai: Actor Randeep Hooda, co-owner of Super Fight League team Haryana Sultans, believes actors are increasingly using mixed martial arts (MMA), thereby making the action genre of films better in the country.
Whether it is the "Commando" film series or "Munna Michael", "Naam Shabana" or "Baaghi" -- action films in Bollywood are setting high standards. Randeep says the use of MMA has played a major role in that.
"It is good to see how these days, the fitness level of actors has gone up and that shows in action sequences where MMA has been used. I hope it will go farther. Since MMA is versatile, it is easy to use in films, to show street fights and other action scenes.
"Look at actors like Vidyut Jammwal and Tiger Shroff. These two guys are spectacularly honing the action genre. They are products of high-end training of MMA and other forms. This is a positive change in the genre of an action film," Randeep told IANS.
Randeep is himself known for his physical fitness and achievements in polo, horseriding and as a National Equestrian Champion.
He is happy with a platform like MTV Super Fight League Season 2, which promotes MMA.
Asked about how one needs to encourage something like MMA in the mainstream, he "See, this is the mother of all contact sports, which is a reason of encouragement. Secondly, once you are trained in MMA, it strengthens your body, mind, core and hand-eye coordination... It is a complete sport."
"I learnt the MMA form during the preparation of one of my films called, 'Do Lafzon Ki Kahani' where I played an MMA fighter. That was one of the hardest training I have ever had.
"This is one of the demanding sports where one has to know many things like karate, boxing, wrestling... because it amalgamates all of them," he said.