Yajnesh Shetty has trained 100+ movie stars in martial arts
NEW DELHI: Martial Arts practitioner Yajnesh Shetty, who has trained a number of Bollywood actors, has become the first Indian to bag prestigious ‘United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame’ award.
Professor Marty Cale, the Hall of Fame Director, announced the induction of Shetty, popularly known as ‘Cheetah’.
The award ceremony was held at St Louis, Missouri Sheraton City Central Hall but Shetty could not attend and his master Richard Bustillo, who is a disciple of legendary Bruce Lee, received the award on behalf of the Indian.
Shetty has trained more than 100 Indian movie stars apart from a dozen international names besides providing training to thousands of women in self defense.
The program is backed by International Martial Art Council of America.
“It is a big honor, which I had never dreamt of. I am thankful to God that I was selected among hundreds of nominations. I dedicate this award to my parents and thousands of children who have trained with me,” Shetty told PTI from Mumbai.
“I could not have done it without my master Richard Bustillo. The sad part is that I could not attend the program because of short notice. I want to take martial art to a different level,” Shetty said.
World record
Kannadiga Cheeta Yagnesh Shetty trains film stars in martial arts and body building and has trained 125 films stars of three generations in the last 35 years. No other physical fitness trainer in any cinema industry in the world has worked for so long or trained so many stars.
Nor is there any other fitness guru in Bollywood who has trained film stars at different stages of their careers as efficiently as him since the 1970s. He has trained fathers and sons among generations of film stars too.
Shetty has trained almost four generations of Bollywood actors like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Karishma Kapoor and their children as well.
Shaetty says, “I have trained almost 150 movie stars, a feat which is going to enter in the Guinness Book of World Record. I have also been appreciated by the legendary Jackie Chan for my unique martial arts. Sir Richard Attenborough who starred in 11 Oscar Awards winning movie ‘Gandhi’ has also been trained by me. Oscar winning director Ang Lee selected my student Ayush Tandon for the movie Life of Pi.”
“I have plans for starting up a martial arts training school in Mangalore as well, but the location has not been finalized. I also plan to direct a movie on martial arts, for which shooting will being in September or October,” he said.
Yagnesh Shetty was born on August 1, 1956 in Ninjur of Karkala taluk in Karnataka. Son of the late Dr Srinivas Shetty and the late Gulabi Shetty, he completed his primary and high school education at Ninjur high school and PUC at Manipal Junior College.
He joined Valley View International Hotel as a waiter soon after his education. Several foreign students studying in KMC were staying there. Among them, Uyi Sensi of China was a martial arts expert. When Uyi practiced Karate, Yagnesh would watch and try to learn. He later got a chance to learn Karate under his tutelage.
Yagnesh was attracted by the posture of a cheetah on hunt and studied its movements and assimilated them into martial arts. He developed a unique martial arts style with it which came to be known as ‘Cheetah’.
He then went to Mumbai in search of greener pastures and joined a five star hotel called Sea Rock. Though his work kept him busy, he practiced Karate whenever he got free time. He soon got promoted as a trainer at the hotel’s health club, and that is when his life took a new turn.
He came across Hindi film stars Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakravorthy and Jitendra there. He soon started a workshop of martial arts at Lokhandwala in Andheri teaching martial arts and body building. By and by, he became a permanent fitness guru for Bollywood.
Among the international stars, he has trained Ben Kingsley, Roger Moore and worked with Jackie Chan also. He has directed several fight scenes for films and acted in some of them. He has also produced a film.
He has struggled hard to make the art of self-defense reach the common people. In the wake of increasing crimes against women, he has started a free program titled ‘Nirbhaya’ to train women in self-defense. He has been conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award besides several other awards for his achievements.
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