Vidyut Jammwal plays Dhalsim in Hollywood debut Street Fighter

Indian action star Vidyut Jammwal is making his Hollywood debut in director Kitao Sakurai's martial arts comedy Street Fighter, playing the video game character Dhalsim. The 1994 film adaptation starring Jean-Claude Van Damme earned $99.4 million on a $35 million budget, and Vidyut hopes his new franchise will surpass that success. He praised his version of Dhalsim as much better researched than the 1994 portrayal by Roshan Seth, noting that the character's yoga background and breath-based fighting style align well with his own training in Kalaripayattu, an Indian martial art from Kerala. Unlike the previous film where Dhalsim was bald in only the last three scenes, Vidyut shaved his head for the entire role to match the video games.

Cast and Background

The film features an ensemble cast led by Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji, along with former WWE champions Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. Sharing screen space with them was a huge thrill for Vidyut, who grew up as a WWE nerd drawing stunt inspiration from the wrestling matches. Last month marked 15 years since Vidyut completed his entry into the Hindi film industry, beginning with a blink-and-miss bike appearance in Amol Gupte's Stanley Ka Dabba before playing an antagonist in Abhinay Deo's Force later that year. He was subsequently stereotyped as a villain in films like Thuppakki and Bullett Raja before landing his break as a lead action star in Dilip Ghosh's Commando. He is not afraid of being pigeonholed in negative roles again, as seen in his recent Tamil film Madharaasi.

Action and Production

Previously, Vidyut worked with American filmmaker Chuck Russell on the Hindi action adventure film Junglee, noting that Hollywood productions have much stricter safety standards, laws, and insurance policies that prevent the impromptu action he is used to in India. His career includes producing and starring in the hijack spy thriller IB71 and the extreme sports film Crakk, the latter of which caused him to lose crores at the box office before he recovered the money within three months through a French circus. He has since put his production house, Action Hero Films, on hold to focus on refining his skills.

Context

As the brand ambassador for the India Yoga Association, Vidyut frequently visits premier institutions like IITs and IIMs to speak on ancient Indian scriptures and the scientific aspects of Kashmir Shaivism. His background as an army kid and deep personal practice of extreme sports continue to drive his approach to physical cinema. Meanwhile, he looks forward to a potential Street Fighter sequel.