Vicky Kaushal reveals how his fight scene with lion in Chhaava was shot: 'We were all so...'

Headlined by Vicky Kaushal as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Chhaava has stormed the box office. The historical action film has earned over Rs 150 crore net in India in its first five days. The Laxman Utekar directorial is packed with intense action and large-scale battle sequences. One of the scenes featuring Vicky fighting with a lion has gone viral on social media.

The National Award-winning actor appeared on IMDb’s exclusive Behind the Scenes segment and called Chhaava the most physically challenging film in his career till now. Vicky shared, "I think for me, Chhaava has been the most physically challenging film that I have ever done till date. From putting on 25 kgs of weight to undergoing rigorous, continuous training for about a year, including horse riding, sword fighting, I can't even count the number of action sequences in the film. There are massive crowd scenes with about 2,000 people, 100 horses, elephants, everything going on all at once. We tried to shoot and execute it in the most realistic way. It's not anti-gravity; it's all very real, very grounded, very gritty, with long takes as well. So I think the most challenging part for me was the physicality and all the action sequences."

The Sam Bahadur actor also shared how his fight scene with lion was shot as he added, "Obviously, a lot of computer graphics were involved, but when we were filming, we used a dummy or sometimes nobody in front of you. There was no animal, you would just imagine the animal and it was going to be created in the post. We were all so curious about how it would turn out, and seeing the final result, with the way the frame looks - everything - it's just...This was the shot that surprised me in the most beautiful way."

Apart from Vicky Kaushal, Chhaava also features Rashmika Mandanna as Sambhaji's wife Maharani Yesubai and Akshaye Khanna as the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the leading roles. The historical action drama also has Divya Dutta, Ashutosh Rana, Vineet Kumar Singh, Diana Penty, and Neil Bhoopalam essaying key historical figures.