If you have been curious about how Aamir Khan piled on over 30 kilos and then lost them for the wrestling drama Dangal, look no further than this video. Warning: it contains potentially disturbing views of a jiggling stomach and Khan in boxers and briefs.
Nitesh Tiwari’s movie, which opens on December 23, is the story of how former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat trained his daughters to become champions in a sport traditionally associated with men. Khan plays Phogat over a lengthy period. The film traces Phogat’s time on the mat to his later years as the out-of-shape but determined coach of his daughters.
Khan’s physical transformations for his roles have been a part of publicity campaigns since Mangal Pandey (2005). For the Ketan Mehta movie, in which he plays the soldier who was among the torchbearers of the 1957 Mutiny, Khan grew out his hair and sported a luxuriant moustache.
For AR Murugadoss’s thriller Ghajini (2008), Khan sweated for days on end in a gym to transform his slim body into a chiselled mass of muscle. In fact, Khan launched the promotional campaign for Ghajini inside a gym. It’s called method acting, Aamir Khan style.