Known to be one to have a taste for perfection in his craft, Farhan Akhtar went back and forth some 15 kgs for his role in his latest, Toofaan.
In this sports drama directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Akhtar plays a street thug who wishes to make a professional boxer of himself.
Apart from his commendable performance, Akhtar’s incredible body transformation is a popular topic of discussion. To achieve the look of a boxer, Akhtar braved 18 months of relentless work, which included rigorous fitness training and a much-disciplined diet plan.
“The many shapes and sizes of Ajju aka Aziz aka Toofaan. What a ride. 18 months of relentless work but worth every drop of sweat, every sore muscle and every pound gained and lost,” he captioned the collage with the three milestone images.
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He also gave credit where it was due and thanked sports physiotherapist Anand Kumar, former kickboxing champion and coach, Drew Neal, and fitness trainer Samir Jaura for their role in his transformation, calling them “the stars behind the scenes”.
In the film, Akhtar can be seen in two shapes: paunchy and athletic. For the bulked-up version, Akhtar was to consume about 5,000 calories each day to reach 85 kg. According to Foster, all restrictions on his diet were taken away during this time and allowed him to indulge in high-carb and high-protein foods. For his leaning down phase, Farhan was to consume a mere 1,200-1,500 calories in a day.
“Additionally, on days he had to highlight his abs, and appear “shredded”, he had to avoid water retention,” Foster told a media representative.
“When you have location issues, when you can’t necessarily shoot where and when you want, it is quite taxing on Farhan to constantly change his look — starving himself at some point and force-feeding sometime else,” he says, lauding Akhtar’s commitment.
“When we were growing up, we would watch boxing on-screen or boxing in some film and get excited or fantasise about doing it someday. But when you train for it (in real), you realise that no matter how much endurance you have and physically fit you are, you are not prepared to take it on, especially with an attitude of hojayega (it is achievable). It is an extremely demanding sport because there is mental, physical and emotional aspect to it. It is like playing chess. You are constantly engaged. The fitness aspect shows on the screen but it is much more than what you see. It is more about what you feel inside than outside,” said Akhtar during the trailer launch of Toofaan.
