Farhan Akhtar these days is getting thumbs up for donning the role of legendary athlete Milkha Singh. While the trailers and promos look impressive, it cannot convey the hardships the actor had to undertake for playing the protagonist.

"Zinda" song that is getting launched tomorrow has shots of Farhan training in picturise Ladakh. Surprising to note that just for this 60 second shot he had to go through gruelling altitude training. Apparently the actor had to train for around 3 months in Bandra in a higher altitude centre.

Altitude training is the practice by some endurance athletes of training for several weeks at high altitude, preferably over 8,000 ft above sea level, though more commonly at intermediate altitudes due to the shortage of suitable high-altitude locations.

At intermediate altitudes, the air still contains approximately 20.9% oxygen, hence making it extremely difficult to do simple activities like walking let alone running with weight tied on the stomach. Ladakh is the highest plateau of state of Kashmir with much of it being over 9,800 ft.

So for the shot, Farhan had to run with a tire tied to his stomach at approx 16000 feet. After 3 months of continuous training Farhan trained for a month in Ladakh where he started with walking, then cycling to light running - in order to acclimatise his body to such an intense training.