Not scared of any boxer now: actor Vineet Kumar Singh

By Gurmukh Singh

Toronto, Sep 16 (IANS) Actor Vineet Kumar Singh, who plays the protagonist in Anurag Kashyap's "Mukkabaaz ("The Brawler"), which premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), says after working so hard for the movie, he is not scared of any boxer now.

A strong social-political drama, the film is around the struggles of a boxer from a lower-caste and gives a peek into cow vigilantism.

Vineet, earlier seen in Kashyap's "Gangs of Wasseypur" and "Ugly", plays the role of the film's boxer hero Shravan.

In Toronto for the film's premiere, Vineet narrated how he prepared for the role.

"Sir (Kashyap) told me that when he orders action, there won't be any stop (cut). I had to prepare so hard for the role," he said, adding that the filmmaker's words proved to be a tonic for him.

The Varanasi-born Vineet said the training for boxing has given him so much confidence that he feels that he can now take on any boxer.

"I am not scared of any boxer now," he said amid laughter.

Kashyap said he specially picked Vineet for this action movie.

"It is my fourth film with Vineet. He took one year off and stayed in the village to prepare for the role of the boxer in the film. He got bloodied many times during the training and he also broke one of his ribs while preparing for action," Kashyap said.

"Mukkabaaz" is Anurag's third film to premiere at TIFF after "That Girl in Yellow Boots" (2010) and "Gangs of Wasseypur" (2012).

Praising the filmmaker, Toronto film festival artistic director Cameron Bailey said: "Anurag is one of my favourite directors."

About his latest film, Bailey said it is very much "engaged with what is happening in India".

The movie will be released later this year, and it will also be the opening film at the 19th edition of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star.