Vidyut Jammwal

Jammwal was born in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir.[1] He is one of three children born to an Army officer, and lived in various parts of India (owing to his father's transferable job)[6] and trained in Kalaripayattu in an ashram in Palakkad, Kerala since he was three years old, which was run by his mother.[7] He traveled to many countries training with martial artists in various forms, some of which find their base in Kalaripayattu.[7] After earning a degree in martial arts, Jammwal travelled to over 25 countries, where he performed in live action shows.[8] He participated as a contestant in Gladrags in the year 2000 and has been living in Mumbai ever since. He was a model in Delhi since 1996, but after a dismal career in modelling, landed his debut role in Sakthi, a Telugu film. He later landed his first role in a Bollywood movie in Nishikant Kamat's Force after one audition.

Jammwal made his Bollywood debut with the John Abraham starrer 2011 film Force, a remake of the Tamil-language film Kaakha Kaakha.[9] He played a negative role in the film and won multiple best debut awards including the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. Post beginning his career with a negative character in Force, Jammwal bagged multiple negative roles in various action films later.

2011 witnessed Jammwal featuring in negative roles in the Telugu-language films Shakti and Oosaravelli, both starring NTR.[10] In 2012, Jammwal made his debut in Tamil cinema with Billa II, as the antagonist opposite Ajith Kumar which earned him critical appreciation.[11] The same year, he played the antagonist in Thuppakki opposite actor Vijay, which became a blockbuster.[12] He also received a SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role for the film.

His next Hindi-language film Commando saw him playing the protagonist and performing real-world combat-based action without the aid of stuntmen. The film was showcased internationally for the first time in July 2013 at the Fantasia Film Fest in Montreal,[13][14] followed by a screening at the Fantastic Fest[15][16][17] in Texas in September 2013. He received positive feedback from international media[18] and action directors, calling him India's answer to Bruce Lee and Tony Jaa.[19] After the success of Commando, he played a sharpshooter cop in Tigmanshu Dhulia's Bullett Raja. In 2014, he played a supporting positive role in the Tamil-language film Anjaan, alongside Suriya. In 2017, he starred in Commando 2, the sequel to Commando, which became a box office success. Baadshaho was his next release that year in which he played Army Officer Major Seher Singh, the movie did average business worldwide.

In 2019, Jammwal starred in American director Chuck Russell's first Bollywood film Junglee and Commando 3. The latter saw him returning to the Commando series and became the most successful film in the franchise.[20] His upcoming projects include Tigmanshu Dhulia's Yaara, an official remake of the French film Les Lyonnais.[21][22] Yaara was one of three films Vidyut signed for – the other two being large format films by director Ram Madhvani, creating an aura similar to the Hollywood flick 300.[23] In 2020, he appeared in an action thriller Khuda Haafiz which was inspired from real life events. The movie became his biggest opener ever[24] and its sequel Khuda Haafiz Chapter II was announced with same leads.[25]

He has also been part of a number of popular lists, including Most Desirable,[26][27][28] Fittest men with Best Bodies,[29][30] and Sexiest Men Alive.[31]

Jammwal kicked off an initiative to teach self-defense techniques to college-going girls and working professionals.[32][33][34] He hosted a camp at a college festival in Mumbai in 2014.[35]

Jammwal is a vegan. In a 2018 PETA campaign for India's National Nutrition Week, the actor showed off his muscular physique alongside the words "Kick the meat habit. Go vegan." [36] He, along with Kangana Ranaut were adjudged as PETA India's Hottest Vegetarian Celebrities of 2013.[37]

His workout regime combines martial arts training with various other elements of cardiovascular, weight and interval training.[38] More recently, Jammwal has adopted and added Anti Gravity Yoga and Suspension TRX to his intense workout regime.[39] Jammwal is a rock climber.[40][41]

Jammwal visited the Shaolin Temple in China in 2013.[42] His visit was meant to honour Bodhidharma, an Indian Buddhist monk who is credited with teaching Indian combat forms and exercises to China, from which kung fu was then born.[43] Jammwal is also believed to have spent a week taking part in martial arts training at the temple.[44]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vidyut Jamwal.

• Vidyut Jammwal at IMDb
• Vidyut Jammwal at Bollywood Hungama