National Martial Arts Champion Manish Raisinghani gears up to train for the outdoor sport, Parkour

The good looking Manish Raisinghani who plays Siddhant in Colors’ Sasural Simar Ka is all set to add one more feather to his cap. This 4 times national martial arts champion (Black belt holder in Karate, Kung Fu and Kickboxing) is now all set to embark on a new urban outdoor sports called Parkour. He had written about the same on his Blackberry messenger status which read – “First day training of Parkour.” Accordingly we called him and he started to explain what Parkour was all about. “This French sport is an urban, free run technique. It involves crossing of all hurdles like jumping from building to building using back flips, somersault without the support of armour or any other physical aid. In short it is something what you enjoy watching Jackie Chan doing on screen.” “Since I had a week’s off from Sasural Simar Ka, I decided to use this break productively,” states the actor. So how long will it take you to learn? “Well any physical discipline takes years to perfect, as it is also the case of martial arts. However according to my Parkour trainer, it would take me around a month and a half to grasp the basics. At first he thought it would take me around six months, but then he revised the time line, seeing how fit I was.” On the place of action where he will learn the game, Manish explains, “We learn on the beach, where there is a wall on which we jump around. Parkour is an urban sport, which you can practice anywhere.” Will you be able to continue after your week’s break in your Colors’ show? “One of my trainers has promised that he would come down to my Mira Road set to teach me. And we have some good space around there to do the various routines.” Manish who had a great experience in martial arts, actually stopped performing ten years back. “I was bit angry at the system, for despite winning national championships several times, I was not able to go abroad for lack of sponsorships.” “The big difference between martial arts and Parkour is that while martial arts is a fighting art, this is not. Here we need lots of concentration, for if we go off focus we might hurt ourselves while doing stunts. Concentration can help me a lot if in the future I get some physical stuff to do on the small screen. However, this is not the case in Sasural Simar Ka, where I am not even allowed to raise my voice (laughs).” Here Manish stresses the importance of keeping fit. “There was a time when I had not taken good care and I had to suffer a lot. The age old maxim, health is wealth is so true for even if you have all the riches in the world, you will not be able to enjoy its fruits if you don’t have good health. It is very important for today’s youth to create a balance between work and physical exercise.” Manish, we hope you excel in this sport too!!