Jaideep Ahlawat in Maharaj. (courtesy: YouTube)
Bow down to Jaideep Ahlawat's dedication and commitment. The Raazi actor shed 27 pounds to slip into the shoes of a godman in the Netflix film Maharaj, backed by YRF Entertainment. Wondering who inspired him? It was none other than producer Aditya Chopra. In an interaction with co-star Junaid Khan, who is Aamir Khan's son, Jaideep revealed how Aditya Chopra encouraged him to lose weight. In the Netflix chat segment, Junaid gives a shout-out to Jaideep Ahlawat for his “drastic physical transformation”. To this, the Jaane Jaan actor said, “This was my first assignment after lockdown. Aditya Chopra said a beautiful thing, ‘Everyone believes you will nail it. Everyone believes you are a good actor. But I feel if you try something new, then it will be different for the audience. So you will look really nice if you lose weight. We will structure your body that way.' I was like, ‘Okay sir.' Precisely I was 109.7 kilos. It took me five months to reach the weight of 82 kilos.”
Speaking about fitness trainer Prajwal Shetty, Jaideep Ahlawat recalled, “I still remember the look on his face on day one. When we began training, I couldn't finish my fifth push-up. I stayed on the ground. And I looked at him and I was like, ‘I can do it sir'. But the conviction in his eyes was so bad.” Jaideep accepted the challenge gracefully and lost 8-9 kgs just in a month. “But it was very painful. He (Prajwal Shetty) has videos of me where I am crying.”
The video was posted a day after Jaideep Ahlawat shared a collage of his before and after versions on Instagram. “From 109.7 Kg. to 83 Kg. in 5 months. That's the Physical Transformation of the Role of Maharaj. Thank you Prajwal Sir for believing in me,” he wrote.
Here's another glimpse of Jaideep Ahlawat performing a “high-intensity shoulder workout”.
Directed by Siddharth P Malhotra, Maharaj also features Sharvari and Shalini Pandey.