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Jackie Chan toggles between kung fu and Bollywood dance moves

SINGAPORE — We all know Jackie Chan as a kung fu fighting action star, but, if his latest movie Kung Fu Yoga is anything to go by, he might also be the next big thing in Bollywood.

Jackie Chan, who was here on Friday (Jan 20) to promote his new film Kung Fu Yoga, had to toggle between kung fu and Bollywood dance moves - something he found very challenging. Photo: Jason Quay/TODAY

Jackie Chan, who was here on Friday (Jan 20) to promote his new film Kung Fu Yoga, had to toggle between kung fu and Bollywood dance moves - something he found very challenging. Photo: Jason Quay/TODAY

SINGAPORE — We all know Jackie Chan as a kung fu fighting action star, but, if his latest movie Kung Fu Yoga is anything to go by, he might also be the next big thing in Bollywood.

Kung Fu Yoga is a China-India co-production that sees Chen and co-stars Aarif Rahman and Lay Zhang teaming up with India’s Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur to track down an ancient archaeological treasure in a journey through China, India, Iceland and the United Arab Emirates.

Not only will you get to view all the action scenes Chan is best known for, you’ll also get to see him show off some yoga-esque sequences — and some nifty Bollywood dance moves, too.

So, which is harder — kung fu or dancing? “Dancing is hard,” Chan chuckled, during an interview in Singapore to promote the film last week. But he played down the difficulty of the moves he had to execute, saying, “I think our dance was okay. If I had to do street dance, that would be really hard.”

Chan shared that he had asked the choreographers to simplify the steps so that any viewer could learn it easily. He then demonstrated a few of the moves, including those he called “Unscrewing a lightbult” and “Flying a kite”. “So, now, the aunties who line dance in China can fight with the aunties who line dance in India,” he quipped.

But, he lamented, “The difficulty in this type of dancing is moving my neck — I don’t know how to do it. Without that signature movement, you’re missing that flavour.”

Co-star Dastur begged to differ, however. “He was really good. Our choreographer actually called him ‘Jackie Jackson’,” she quipped.

Dancing was far from the only challenge 62-year-old Chan had to overcome: While filming for Kung Fu Yoga, he had to be taken to the hospital with a pain in his midsection, only to find that his abdominal muscles had rotted and his intestines were misaligned. “I could have gone just like that,” he mused. “Life is really so fragile.”

Even so, he insisted on going back to work the day after he was operated on. Shortly after, he had to do stunt scenes in Iceland, including diving into icy water.

“I could have said, ‘Let’s stop’ so I could recuperate for six months. But think about it: So many people were already there in Iceland,” he said. He did the scenes “with a huge bandage around my midsection”. “They had made four holes in me. The bandage was soaked with blood when they tried to change it, and I couldn’t find my bellybutton,” he said.

Patani shared that that’s just the way Chan is: He is used to his body taking abuse. “He never goes to the hospital or doctors. I don’t think he likes it,” she laughed. “He has one broken bone (in his shoulder) and he never fixed it. He was showing me one day, ‘See, I have this broken bone,’ — it was (sticking) out and he just pulled it inside. That’s what he does — if he has broken bones he just fixes it himself. I think he’s superhuman.”

Chan said that he does it all in the service of his fans. “I hope to be able to bring different movies, roles, action and plots to everyone each year. I can’t possibly meet and give autographs and photos to all my fans in the world, so this is the best gift I can give them,” he said.

He continued: “I don’t want to be known as an action star. I want to be known as an actor who can do action. Action stars have a very short lifespan. I want to be a Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro or Dustin Hoffman.”

 

Kung Fu Yoga is in cinemas Jan 27.

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