Actor Aamir Khan is no stranger to changing his body for films, but the transformation for his latest Dangal was different.
“Though I went through body building to get a certain look for my film, this one was one of the most dramatic body transformations so far. The film has two phases. For one part, I had to put on weight. So, I weighed 96kg with 38 per cent body fat and [then] I had to reduce to 9 per cent body fat within five months. That was a huge task,” Khan said.
“I would like to mention that putting on weight and losing it so fast is very unhealthy,” he said. “I did it for my film under the supervision of experts, but it is very unhealthy for any regular person.”
Khan said his doctor recommended he avoid such drastic weight and body transformations. But being a creative person, he tends to get “excited to do everything if I get a good script”.
Asked why he didn’t opt for a bodysuit, he said: “When you put on weight, it affects your breathing and body language. That naturally reflects on your performance. You cannot get that from a bodysuit.”
The easiest part seemed to be gaining the weight.
“I ate everything that I was not supposed to eat otherwise. I had samosa, vada pav, chocolate, cakes, brownies... I indulged in everything. Then when I had to lose the weight, I had a very different diet of 25g of upma and papaya. After gym, a glass of protein shake,” Khan said.
Khan will play Mahavir Singh Phogat, father of wrestler Geeta Phogat, who won India’s first gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
The biopic, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, is set to release in the UAE on December 22.
