After her appearance in Neeraj Pandey's 'Baby', Taapsee Pannu's secret agent Shabana Khan is now head-lining Shivam Nair's spin-off of the 2015 spy action thriller, 'Naam Shabana.'

For her prep, the actress had some help from Akshay Kumar, who has a cameo in the new film and sent over his trainer, Mehul Vohra, and his subordinate, Jatin, to train her in three forms of martial arts — Krav Maga, Aikido and Mixed Martial Arts.

"I trained at Akshay's academy with the students in Andheri," Taapsee informs, admitting that though most of her fight sequences in the film are hand-to-hand combat, she doesn't like hitting anyone in real life. "I can't stand any kind of violence and I know that if I hit someone, it will really hurt."

Taapsee plays the titular role in her upcoming film, is essaying the role of an undercover agent and has undergone rigorous training sessions to learn martial arts in order to perform action-packed sequences.

Having acquired self defense training, Taapsee understands the importance of knowing these techniques as they would help women protect themselves in every unforeseen situation.

Gulshan Kumar and Cape of Good Films presents, A Plan C Studios production Neeraj Pandey's 'Naam Shabana' directed by Shivam Nair is all set to release on March 31, 2017.