While her training as a runner certainly came handy, Saiyami Kher admits that in order to kick and punch for her role of an undercover agent in Special Ops, she had to undergo intense training in Mixed Martial Arts. Neeraj Pandey's upcoming espionage thriller has heavy action sequences, making it the kind of project that Kher "always wanted to do". "I had to get the action, including the punches and fist fights, on point. There was a special action team employed for it, so, working with them was quite an experience," she says of the show, which was shot in Turkey, among other locales.

Pandey, with films like A Wednesday (2008), Special 26 (2013) and Baby (2015), was on Kher's bucket list of directors to work with. "This was my chance to work with someone known for his action films." The desire to associate with someone versed with the genre is only fitting, given that Kher has taken a while to find her bearings in Bollywood, after the debacle of her debut film, Mirzya (2016).