When our B-town celebs transform their bodies for various roles, it sure amazes and impresses

Mona

The job that could have been done with a fat suit, actor Abhishek Bachchan did by gaining weight. He maintained his weight between 100 and 105 kilos for the crime thriller Bob Biswas. As the pandemic disrupted the shoot, Abhishek, who had pulled a similar act for Mani Ratnam’s Guru, had to keep the weight through the lockdown to maintain continuity.

As Bob Biswas, we see him with his bloated face, paunch in place. And not just Abhishek Bachchan, it seems to be the season of transformations on screen—recently Kangana Ranaut was seen 20 kilos plus her regular weight to step into Jayalalithaa’s shoes in halaivi, while veteran Shabana Azmi dropped 10 kilos for Karan Johar’s upcoming Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani.

While prosthetics today rules the roost, a lot depends on the actors as well. Aamir Khan is quite a pro at the art. While, he got lean to play an engineering student in 3 Idiots, he was all bulky in Ghajini, and in Dangal he surprised fans with his two distinct looks. He is now said to have pulled another feat with the upcoming film Laal Singh Chaddha.

Actor Randeep Hooda took it to another level while going skeletal for Sarbjit while Farhan Akhtar too impressed in Toofaan.

Great commitment

Kookie Gulati, who directed Abhishek Bachchan in The Big Bull, calls him a ‘master of transformations’. “Even at the time of The Big Bull, we offered Abhishek a fat suit and prosthetics but he chose to gain about 12 kilos. He has done it again for Bob Biswas, which only shows his commitment to the craft.”

Gulati adds, “When an actor is dedicated for a role and undergoes a body transformation, the team as well as the audience is bound to love it. As a director, it’s a boon to have an actor who will go down that road. While internationally one had seen actors like Tom Hanks go the distance, now we see them here too.”

While getting the physicality right is one, it is also important to live the part. “Real character is always in your mind. Our minds are the real fingerprints, not our bodies. Body is only a little part of it. If I rely only on the body, it will be a soul-less performance,” shared Ali Fazal, who piled on pounds for the role of Guddu bhaiya in Mirzapur 2.

They did it too…

• Baahubali made Telugu actor Prabhas a national sensation, as he beefed up for his warrior look—going from 82 to 102 kilos. Major dietary changes to training with world-class wrestlers, his is one epic transformation.
• ‘Almost took the life outta me,’ tweeted Haryana hunk Randeep Hooda with a skeletal look in Sarbjit, as the Omung Kumar-directorial completed four years in 2020. In a shocking body transformation, he lost 18 kilos in 28 days to play Sarbjit.
• Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan went on a gruelling routine for Dangal. And he has done it again for essaying the role of Lal Singh Chaddha.
• Farhan Akhtar, who gained much praise for getting into the Flying Sikh’s shoes in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, literally amazed everyone with his incredible transformation in Toofaan. Along with three pictures, he posted “The many shapes and sizes of Ajju aka Aziz aka Toofaan; 18 months of relentless work but worth every drop of sweat, every sore muscle and every pound gained and lost.” Reportedly he went down to 69 kilos, reached 85 kilos again and then got back to 76 kilos for different looks in the film.
• National Award-winner Kangana Ranaut gained 20 kilos to play Thalaivi and lost the weight to get back into shape for the shooting of Dhaakad.