New Delhi: Actor Randeep Hooda, who is currently busy promoting his upcoming film 'Swatantrya Veer Savarkar', on Monday shared a picture of his transformation for the role of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The drastic transformation done by the actor has left netizens in awe.
The actor, who plays the titular role in the film, shared the photo and wrote, “KAALA PAANI #SwatantryaVeerSavarkar #WhoKilledHisStory #VeerSavarkarOn22March #BTS #behindthescenes #VeerSavarkar #Savarkar”
In the black and white photo, the actor appears notably lean, with a receding hairline, embodying the physical toll of his character's hardships.
Randeep Hooda on his transformation
The actor lost 26 kg for the role to portray the part when Savarkar was sent to cellular jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Talking about his transformation the actor had told Aaj Tak that he lost weight under the supervision of his sister Dr. Anjali Hooda, who is an internal medicine specialist.
“During this time I followed paleo diet, intermittent fasting, and vitamin supplements. I had to lose 6 to 7 kgs in five days. I have gone through all these processes. That too under the supervision of experts. The wrong news that was spread, that dates and milk reduce weight, is very unhealthy. I didn't only eat dates, I used to eat things like eggs, chile, nuts, and dark chocolate at different stages. Meanwhile, I had also fixed cheat dates for myself,” he told AajTak.in.
Randeep Hooda on the film's journey
Talking about his journey in the film, the actor had called it a tough one. He earlier told IANS in an interview: “The journey was honestly quite testing given that it’s my first film as a director. However, I invested my energy in making the story more detailed. Normally, anyone would start with a film on a smaller scale or a short film for their directorial debut but, it was really not in my hands and it was not my intention to become a director of the movie but it happened as the film took its own course.”
“The opportunity came my way and I told myself, ‘Okay, now you gotta do it well like how you put your 100 per cent in acting’. I gave it my all and also learned many nuances of filmmaking. As an actor, you somewhere know about these things but you don’t really pay much attention to them. But, when you don the hat of a director, you need to closely monitor these things,” he added.
The film, also starring Ankita Lokhande and Amit Sial, is slated to release in cinemas on March 22.
This is not the first time Randeep Hooda has undergone a drastic transformation for a film. For the 2016 film ‘Sarabjit’ the actor had lost 20kg in 28 days.