Actor Vikram turned heads all over the nation with his diverse looks in his upcoming magnum oppus I. Perhaps, for the first-time ever in the country, an actor’s looks in the movie were talked about most. Vikram essays dual role with four versatile get ups – Bodybuilder, Hunchbacked disfigured man, Beast and Modern guy with stylish hairstyle – for which the actor underwent vigorous struggle.
For one character, he had to gain weight and for another, he had to lose 20-25 kilos, yet the method-actor managed to make it by taking three years for body transitions. Vikram lost about nearly 50 percent of his original body weight and he found it very tough to control his urge to eat. “It was extremely difficult to control hunger. It drove me crazy,” stated 48-year-old actor.
“For the role of the bodybuilder, I had to beef up and work out extensively in the gym to have a muscular body. I could’ve easily achieved that with the help of steroids, but I avoided it despite being wooed into using it by professionals,” he said. “It was for the role of the disfigured man that I lost nearly half of my original body weight. Shankar never wanted me to lose weight for this role but I did it anyways. I had to control my hunger to achieve the desired look. I literally survived on fluids,” he added.
Vikram admits there were instances he couldn’t control his hunger. “I completely stopped going out during the course of the shoot as we wanted to keep the look a secret. Since I spent most of my time at home, I was tempted to scarf down homemade food, especially biryani,” he said. “Some days I ended up eating in the middle of the night. I would eat anything that I found in the fridge. I just couldn’t control my hunger,” he added.
Besides gaining and losing weight, it wasn’t quite easy to have make-up for each role. “It took me 3 to 5 hours for the makeup of the beast’s look,” shared Vikram. Considering all these, one could understand the efforts put by Vikram into the film and how he breathed life into the roles he portrayed. Since the movie is simultaneously releasing in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi languages across world (including in Pakistan) on Wednesday (Jan 14), whole country is eagerly waiting to watch I. All eyes are on Vikram and Shankar who worked for years to make this big-budget movie possible. Given that none other than Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger attended the I audio launch, expectations soaring high. Will the film able to live up to all the hype surrounding it? Will Vikram-Shankar duo’s romantic thriller enthralls? Stay glued for our verdict.