At 59, Salman Khan is not shying away from action. His last three films — Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (2023), Tiger 3 (2023), and the recent Sikandar — have been actioners, and his next, Battle of Galwan, will be a test of his physical prowess. As he sits down for his first interview with mid-day since Sikandar’s release, the superstar admits that training for the film has been taxing. “It’s physically intense. With each passing year, month, and day, it becomes more challenging. I have to invest a lot more time now. Earlier, I could get into shape in just a week or two, but this time I’m running, kicking, punching — doing it all. This film is on another level physically, especially with the shoot [slated to] happen in Ladakh, at high altitudes and in freezing water,” he begins. 

Chitrangda Singh plays the female lead in Battle of Galwan

For decades, the superstar has been the poster boy of fitness for his male fans. But as he trains for director Apoorva Lakhia’s war drama — which is based on the 2020 Galwan Valley clash between Indian and Chinese troops that saw them employing hand-to-hand combat, and using sticks, stones, and clubs to fight — he says that maintaining peak fitness is not easy. “One cannot be that ripped all the time, 24x7. When there’s a role, you adjust your fitness accordingly. But every day, you have to eat right and work out. The older you grow, the harder you need to work because it’s not as easy to do this anymore. There are no shortcuts.”