Ahead of the film's release on April 17, Arya shared his experience performing stunts underwater in Mr X. The multi-starrer spy thriller, directed by Manu Anand, also stars Sarathkumar, Manju Warrier and Gautham Ram Karthik. Athulyaa Ravi, Raiza Wilson, Jayaprakash, Kaali Venkat, and Anagha round out the star cast.

The sequence  required Arya to descend to 20 feet to authentically simulate the deep ocean — a depth that brought extreme physical challenges, most significantly the temperature of the water, which hovered between 15 and 16 degrees.

Arya shared that as he dived deeper, the temperature reduced to 15 to 16 degrees. "The water is ice-cold. Performing that with the bare body will make anyone shiver. But my body shouldn't shiver, so I had to hold my breath for 30 to 40 seconds of action was an immense task for me," he said.

The crew, too, had a huge role to play in the filming of those scenes. To make up for the lost time owing to repeated ascents and descents, the camera crew had to remain submerged throughout. "Once we went underwater, the camera team and everyone stayed there — we could only come back out after one and a half to two hours," Arya added.

He said all the hardships were worth it as the output is satisfactory. "At the end of the day, when you see it on screen, I am very happy about the output of the sequence. When people watch the film, they will understand the significance of this sequence," he quipped.

The film is based on seven real incidents that took place in India between 1965 and 2023.  

Releasing this Friday, Mr X consists of Arul Vincent cranking the camera, Dhibu Ninan Thomas composing music, and Prasanna GK handling the editing. Backed by Vineet Jain and S Lakshman Kumar, the film is co-produced by A Venkatesh.