Farhan Akhtar on the brutal beauty of boxing: ‘An incredible display of human endurance and courage’

Farhan Akhtar is no stranger to the rigours of physical fitness and training and the transformation required to portray a sportsman – he played sprinter Milkha Singh in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013). The actor and filmmaker have reunited for Toofan, in which Akhtar plays pugilist Aziz Ali.

Written by Anjum Rajabali and Vijay Maurya, Toofaan is based on a story idea by Akhtar and co-stars Mrunal Thakur and Paresh Rawal. The movie will be on Amazon Prime Video from July 16. The actor and filmmaker spoke to Scroll.in about why he finds boxing a “humbling” sport.

Boxing, like wrestling, appears to be dominated by people who have come from underprivileged backgrounds.
Yes. Many come from the ghetto and from cities where you have the haves and have-nots. Most often, these boxers are have-nots. They are not born into privilege, education has not prepared them and quite often they are victims of a bent system that never works in their favour. So the only thing they can rely on is their ability to fight their way out.

Most boxers come from hard backgrounds, broken homes, backgrounds in crime. But what is common to most journeys is that at one point or another they meet the right person who has inspired them to…

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