Now the fights have to look equal and convincing. For the climactic battle in Apoorva Lakhia’s Mission Istanbul the reed-thin Zayed Khan put on 11 kgs of sheer muscle bringing his weight up to a never-before 75 kgs, to combat the film’s bad man Niketan Dheer who’s 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 86 kgs.
Zayed freaked out when he was told about the climactic situation and requirements. “I suddenly had to weigh way beyond what I ever did.
I had to match this guy. There’s a lot for me at stake. One tends to do a lot of films before realising you need to rejuvenate yourself.
Mission Istanbul has juiced me out. This project means a lot. And my director Apoorva Lakhia has pushed me to my limit. Two days before our climax, he came to me and gave me the picture of a 6-feet 4 inch guy who was built like a rock and who looked like a mountain.
With a straight face he told me I’ve to fight this guy and I’ve to look sinewy enough to look like his adversary. I thought Apoorva was joking. Since I play a journalist in the film I wondered why I need to do this. But my director was adamant.â€
Zayed built on his body to play a combative journalist. “And to play the television journalist I studied the best in the business. This is the kind of project that spurs you into exploring new facets of your personality. I want to be known as an actor who prepares.â€
