Protein, pujas and perseverance: Yashas Surya gets into the skin of a wrestler

Yashas Surya is doing all it takes to look the wrestler on screen for his upcoming film Garadi, directed by Yogaraj Bhat.
Revealing details about his role, Yashas Surya says, “I play wrestler Garadi Suri. I work as a chef who prepares nutritious meals for wrestlers and how I get into the sport makes the plot interesting.”
On the preparations that helped him get into the skin of the character, he explains, “Firstly, we stayed in Mysuru, home to many traditional garadi mane, for nearly a month and I trained under wrestler Desi Gowdru.I used to be involved in gym activities for two hours in the morning, and, in the evening, I prepared for wrestling. To begin with, we perform puja to a soil called matti and the outfits. The process of making the soil takes a very long time because they mix a particular kind of soil with oil and ghee to ensure it is fit for wrestling. Another interesting factor is we had to bathe in the garadi house itself. We also dig up the soil to loosen it before the wrestling takes place.”
Talking about his diet, he adds, “Protein was preferred, and spicy food avoided. I consumed a lot of steamed food to sport a chiselled look.”
The team erected a special set on the outskirts of the city to capture wrestling sequences which is the core element of the movie. The project has Sonal Monteiro in the female lead. After a long gap, Minister and actor B C Patil will be seen as a wrestler in the movie. Minister S T Somashekhar has also played a cameo, said director Yogaraj Bhat.

Director Yogaraj Bhat says, “We had a different title for this movie. When we were scouting for locations in Badami, we thought Garadi was an apt title. Wrestler Desi Gowdru has trained actors for the movie to make it seem realistic on the screen. Some real wrestlers have also have acted in the movie.”