MUMBAI: It was actor Ajay Devgn’s stunts in the movie Phool Aur Kaante that inspired martial art expert and celebrity action trainer Rakesh Yadav to follow his dream. The actor says that he was always interested in gymnastics and martial arts. “From childhood, I was into martial arts.  I have learned martial arts for 4 years after that I pursued Gymnastic as well. I was very inspired by Ajay Devgan, the stunt that he performed in the movie Phool Aur Kaante,” he says. 

He adds, “Right from childhood, I have been staying in Mumbai with my father. When I was a child, I shifted here with my father. We used to live in Ayodhya, UP before that. After that, I started learning martial arts along with my studies. After some time, my father fell sick due to which I had to left my studies in between. I started teaching martial arts there only due to financial condition. I was 12 at the time.”

Now, Rakesh has come a long way and has many celebrity clients. “We were training in Juhu beach and Tiger Shroff also came there for training and we became friends. He was my first celebrity client. I have also trained Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Disha Patani, Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Pooja Hegde, Jacqueline Fernandez,  Vicky Kaushal, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Dazy shah and Harsh Vardhan Rahne from Bollywood. My TV clients include Hussain Kuwajerwala, Gurmeet Chowdhry, Karan Sehgal, Kushal Tandon, Pearl Dev Puri, Priyansh Zora, Kunal Verma, and Namit Paul,” he says. 

Ask him who he feels has the best body in the industry, and he says, “Tiger Shroff in Bollywood and on TV, it’s Hussain sir.”