‘Sultan’ fights real, no cables, took a toll on me: Salman

Mumbai, May 25 (IANS) Actor Salman Khan, who plays a wrestler in Ali Abbas Zafar-directed 'Sultan' on Tuesday said that most of the fights in the film are real, without cables and with real wrestlers.

"When Ali narrated to the me the story I thought I'll be able to do it. But then while doing it, opposite me were not fighters but real wrestlers. Most of the shots in the film are real, wrestlers and Mixed Marital Arts, there are no cables and because of them there is lot of contact happening in the film. When they lift you and put to the ground it used to hurt, they were of 120-130 kilos," he said.

"They expect you to pick you up and throw you down. That was the most difficult part. When a wrestler trains he trains for 2-3 hours and then 2-3 hours again in the evening, then training for MMA, and 6-7 hours of shoot every day non-stop, fighting non-stop. So those six hours in those lights and training, that used to take a toll," Salman said, at the trailer launch of the film.

Salman plays the title character in the film, a wrestler, who goes on to win the gold medal for India in wrestling. But due to some reasons, he leaves wrestling and returns to the sport after some time, when age and an unfit body are hurdles in front of him. He then is coached by Randeep Hooda's character in MMA and reaches the big stage.

Is it inspired from a real-life character? "No, it's not from anywhere. This is from his (Zafar) mind. It is the story of an underdog".

Actress Anushka Sharma plays his love interest in the film, who is also a wrestler.

Salman said, "he is a simple man who has no ambition. He sees a feisty girl and falls in love with her. She's a wrestler, he's a nobody but he feels whenever I get married, it will be with her. That falls flat because she is so strong-headed. She missunderstands him.

Then it's all about Sultan, how he goes down, and how he comes back with the help of the woman he loves. How the woman is responsible for making him, breaking him and because of her how he starts making it again. "