Thirty five year old fight master Anji’s story is laced with patience, confidence and grit. Anji hails from a farmer’s family, in Alamaru near Rajahmundry. He was never interested in studies and obviously very frequently played truant. “The teachers would threaten me and I hated studies. I was more interested in martial arts and began loving it from the time I was nine years old,” he tells Y.Sunita Chowdhary of Klapboardpost.com. He would watch the advertisements and other commercials, dubbing films of Bruce Lee on television and in the next few years gathered a lot of knowledge on Brucelee. After acquiring a Brown Belt through sheer hard work, he got drawn from Karate to Kung Fu. What did he do next? “My father never had a problem with me and my elder sister encouraged me, sought admission for me in the martial arts school. I took it very seriously and gathered a lot of information and knowledge, got a Black Belt in Kung Fu but was still not happy. I thought I should be doing something more and resolved to go to China.To pool money, I worked on the fields and once I accumulated it, went to China in 2001 to learn the arts. I scored 48 grand championships, won 6 gold medals. Every five years, one person would be chosen to go to the Shaolin Temple, which is the place where Kung Fu and Wing Chun are taught. I was the lucky one that year, they picked me and I rushed to Delhi and submitted my credentials and managed sponsorships”.
Anji’s aim was to learn Kung Fu in China. The next three months were spent, waiting for the formal invitation but he didn’t get it, he stayed at home. After a lot of time, he got the letter. The classes at Shaolin Temple were free, all he had to spend was on flight tickets, food and shelter. He shares, “I spent 80 thousand rupees at that time. Two people who were being tutored couldn’t withstand the arduous classes and returned after a while. After going there, I observed that there is no connection between what is taught here and there. The punches and kicks are totally different. The original art is not actually taught in India. I was embarrassed and learnt everything from the beginning. There are no belts there,there are only sobriquets, titles. I hung around for two years and learnt the art of self defense. They liked my work and gave me an extension of another two months. Once done, I returned to India and I didn’t know what to do, knew another skill ..that is driving. Apart from that I was clueless on my next step. Being the youngest in the family, my sisters pampered me all along my childhood, so I never thought of academics or doing something constructive for the future. I almost slipped into depression. I struck upon an idea and began training those interested in martial arts and now at least sixty of them are black belt holders. I began with ten students initially. What I was doing wasn’t enough and I craved for an identity, not to spend the rest of my life doing something routine and ordinary. I even worked in a circus company, jumping and riding bikes.”
Anji narrates a moment which led him to think about a career which never ever occurred to him. There was a film shoot happening in his village and a friend who drove a Sumo did not report to work. Anji was asked to take his place and drop an artist Annapurna at the location. While on the drive, he showed her his album and she suggested he become a stunt master in the film industry. He was enticed by the idea but didn’t know how to broach the topic at home as those days working in a movie industry was considered a taboo. He says, “I had to get a card from the Union and I told my family that if I am not successful I’d return within a year. The cost for acquiring the card was one lakh, seventy five thousand rupees. It had to be paid to the association. My cousin in Hyderabad was living at Kukatpally and he introduced me to one person, Welding Seenu who did set works in films. At that time a strike of the Union was on and I needed the money to pay for the card. For six months, I practiced at seven acres Annapurna Studios. While I was at work, Gopal Master, who is a cinema fighter, told me to display my skill. He said I was doing well and encouraged me and showed me many cinema techniques in fights. The next six months, I took up a job as a driver to survive and in the evenings practically ran to seven acres to practice. I passed the test and told myself I can get the association card after which I can go to the shoots.”
Troubles for Anji resumed. For someone who comes from a lower middle class family and for someone who is struggling to make a living in Hyderabad, accumulating that kind of money is an impossible thing. The union, after seeing his skill, resolved to help him with half the amount but Anji had to get the balance from his home. His father, who was a farmer, sold the motor in the house and mother sold some other stuff and gave him seventy thousand rupees. The problem didn’t end there, for one year he had no work. Since he was new, work to him came slow and also at that time there was domination of Chennai fighters in Hyderabad films and there weren’t many shoots. There would be work for ten days in a month. Anji shares, “I got into the industry in 2004 and out of ten days, I would get two days to work. The call sheet was 1800 rupees then. So I began taking martial arts classes at Trimulgherry for Army kids. With that I could pay interest for a year and then film shoots began. My first action scene was for Raccha. I am happy that I am not facing any problems anymore. Recently my father died and I am able to take care of my family. I have worked as an assistant to manty top fight masters and after a long wait, I became a master. I worked for films like Super, Family Man 1, Ardha Satabdham, Traffic. Happy to share that I am getting work from OTT platforms too. I have worked for around 14 years as a fighter. My big moment was when Nagarjuna praised me for my work in Manam. Nowadays fighters are a happy lot and secure.” Anji has meanwhile learnt to read from his cousin and he is aware he needs to grow slowly, climb the ladder and earn the notice and trust of heroes. As of now Lady Bruce Lee, his next film is releasing soon.
