Falling Skyward

Think James Bond. Think Jackie Chan. Now parkour, a fusion of martial arts and athletics, is jumping off the screen into a park near you, says MANJULA NARAYAN

Leap of faith: Akshay Kumar COURTESY: AKSHAY KUMAR

THE FIRST TIME you come across parkour (pronounced par-koor) on Youtube you are mesmerised. There is Sebastien Foucan, a living deity of the sport, leaping from building to building, sliding down handrails, effortlessly scaling walls, and even falling with grace. You learn about David Belle who, along with Foucan, is credited with inventing the sport; and about its numerous offshoots, like free-running and yamakazi. Then, Akshay Kumar starts racing down crowded streets and jumping over obstacles (apparently, the star is the only person in India with a custombuilt parkour gym); Foucan makes a high-energy appearance in Casino Royale; and Imran Khan reveals that parkour was integral to his training for Kidnap. You’re convinced that the sport is a genuine phenomenon, waiting to burst into popular consciousness.

Derived from the French term parcours du combattant, for a method of military training that involves overcoming obstacles, parkour is a free-flowing style of movement that includes running, jumping and climbing — a fusion of the elements of martial arts and athletics.

If actor Imran Khan is to be believed, it’s already the rage in Bollywood. “Parkour has become very cool in Bollywood and once that happens, it tends to be over-glamourised. But it has actually been around for years. That’s what Jackie Chan has been doing since the 1980s!

“The entire point of it is to appear effortless. It’s about the economy of movement, about getting from point one to two without pausing and by negotiating every obstacle — exactly what Jackie Chan used to do when he was jumping up walls and running through crowded marketplaces! I was always a huge fan of Jackie Chan and his stunts,” says Khan, who prepared for Kidnap with intensive, seven-hour parkour sessions on Mumbai’s Versova Beach and in its parks, with British expert Dean Alexandrou.

Parth Vaidya, member of Mumbai’s Team NUTS PHOTO: REUTERS

“I used to do kickboxing and capoeira, a South American martial art developed by African slaves, so I took to parkour pretty decently. Still, when I started, I could barely stretch. But, after doing straight jump exercises, running on tiptoes and doing vertical jumps, I began building my strength and flexibility.” He adds that his interest in extreme sport — he bust his knee rollerblading — has meant that he’s always been interested in pushing his body.

While celebrities like Kumar and Khan have had access to great trainers and equipment, the average parkour enthusiast, or traceur, in India hasn’t been so lucky. Lack of venues and funds has hampered their growth but, fortunately, not their enthusiasm.

“We go to dilapidated buildings, to parks, to Rajendra Place and to Delhi University. Actually, there have been whole Sundays when all we’ve done is driven around looking for spaces suitable for practising our moves,” says 27-yearold Ravi Kant, a member of the Mutants, a parkour team from New Delhi.

Mumbai-based enthusiasts are similarly hampered. “At first, we began practising in a park in Santa Cruz. But Mumbai is very crowded and there are always objections from people who think we’re fooling around or trying to break things. Things are different in Navi Mumbai. In places like Kharghar and Nerul, people are actually interested and appreciative!” says 29-year-old Deepak Bisth, a member of Team NUTS (Naughty Urban Traceurs). The huge distances within the city are another deterrent to regular practice sessions.

Still, things are looking up. “Recently, we’ve been able to practise at a Judo Club in Kandivili that has crash mats, so that reduces the risk of injury,” says Bisth, who literally fell for parkour when he spotted Foucan in a Madonna video.

“Then I saw Akshay Kumar’s stunts and Casino Royale and realised that this was a new art. I began reading articles off the Net and started practising,” he says, adding that he hung around Orkut looking for similarly obsessed folk and soon the team was born.

But what’s so great about parkour? “When you’re faced with a threatening situation, our response is fight or flight. While martial arts develop your fighting response, parkour trains your flight response. Really, a combination of these will help you tackle both fight and flight,” says Bisth, who’s keen to spread awareness about the sport so bystanders stop objecting to practice sessions in public spaces.

“We haven’t thought about going professional, though some of our team members are teaching moves. We’re concentrating on meeting new people and enjoying ourselves and the sport.”

Bisth believes having an instructor definitely helps. “I know how the human body works, but it still took me a lot of time to learn techniques off the Net. But when I taught others, I was shocked to see them perfecting in a few sessions what had taken me months. Learning off the web is more time consuming.”

Kant, who has practiced in a parkour gym in the UK, agrees. “In three sessions there, I learnt more than in three months here. They have padded floors and walls, 25 levels of heights and obstacles to practice on. You’re fearless because it’s padded. And once you tackle these obstacles in a gym, you can take them on in the real world too.” Kant once jumped off a wall straight onto hard cement bags and broke both feet.

Traceurs from around the world defy gravity Photo: PARKOUR MUMBAI

“There are hazards and parkour is a little risky but that’s part of the attraction,” says the fitness freak, exasperated with the paucity of practice spaces. “We keep doing things in the same places. Things are okay for beginners and for experts. If you’re a top-level parkour guy, every wall is suitable, but things get difficult when you reach intermediate levels,” says Kant. He’s put out that interest in the sport hasn’t brought sponsors. “All the attention has not translated into masses of guys joining the movement. We’ve been trying to get companies to sponsor events, but I guess it’s not like salsa, so they aren’t interested!”.

KANT IS working on bringing Foucan to India to conduct workshops. “We tried to contact Akshay Kumar but he didn’t seem at all interested — anyway, considering the level of gym that he has, his level isn’t that great! Our experience with Foucan, who’s the god of parkour, was completely different. Here’s a guy who’s absolutely at the top internationally and, when we got in touch with him, he was really excited. It might cost an arm and a leg to get him here but he’s willing, so things are looking positive,” exults Kant.

So what does the future hold for Indian parkour?

“You know, this is a sport, not a specific technique. Guys who are learning moves off the Net will make those moves their own. If you look at the style in France, it’s very different from what’s done in China, where they put more emphasis on the shape of the body… and it’s all more disciplined in the US and UK, more fluid. The sport is still at a nascent stage in India, but I believe that as more people begin to practise parkour we’ll see the development of an Indian style of the sport too,” says Imran Khan. No doubt, many hyperactive parkour fanatics will say ‘amen’ to that. •