Tiger Shroff to open martial arts academy in Mumbai and other cities

Mumbai: Tiger Shroff, who has established himself as a young action star in Bollywood, is set to take his passion for action forward by opening up martial arts academies across the country.

Tiger is hopeful that by August, the first branch of the academy will be up and running in Mumbai.

"I am opening up a few branches of martial arts academy, first in Mumbai then Pune and then somewhere up North India. The first one should hopefully open by August. It's a martial arts facility for everybody. This is one of my dreams and I am excited it is finally happening," Tiger told PTI.

The actor says this is his attempt to get the youth to learn martial arts, something which has helped him a lot in his acting career so far.

"Today's youth lack that kind of physical exposure. They are all glued to their phones. I want them to get away from that and motivate them to take up this."

The 27-year-old actor recently took part in a special event where he joined hands with P&G Shiksha as a 'Shiksha Superhero' to spread awareness about education.

"Most of my fans are children, so I am doing this for them. It is very important for our youth to be educated. People are aware of its importance, but not everybody has the resources to study," the "Baaghi" actor says.

A lot of Bollywood celebrities have quit their education midway to pursue their acting dreams.

Tiger feels one can follow their passion and study the right kind of course if that is going to help them.

"If you are interested in acting then take up course related to that. For example, Nawazuddin Siddiqui sir went to NSD (National School of Drama), that was his education."

Tiger reveals if not an actor he would have been a football player.

"I got 50-55 per cent in school because most of my time was spent in playing sports. I was an average student when it came to studies but excelled in sports and even got awards," he says.