Kartik Aaryan’s Chandu Champion trainer slams those who claimed actor’s physique is ‘photoshopped’ or result of steroid

In an interview with Indianexprress.com, Tridev Pandey said whenever people point fingers at an actor, the coach also comes under the scanner. Tridev, who also trains actors Wamiqa Gabbi, Sanya Malhotra and Shweta Tripathi, said, “Whoever feels this transformation is not natural, I am ready to pay from my own pocket to take the NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) test. When you cast doubt on an actor, you also start doubting the coach, that, ‘Oh this is a result of artificial supplement, this is because of dope and injections.’

“It is said by only those who themselves can’t achieve it. I have been a national boxer myself and I know after every match, we are tested. We know if we take something, we might win a match, but it will affect us long term. I would never recommend anyone to take artificial supplements and build a body.”

Kartik Aaryan with his trainer Tridev Pandey.

The trainer revealed that during the project, “many people” around the duo were trying to “encourage us to take artificial supplements” and build the body easily. Tridev said, “It took us 14 months to get this. If we had taken any artificial supplement, maybe we could have achieved it in six months, because our diet was strict and training on point. But we didn’t do that at all. The result is the process we undertook. It isn’t just a transformation; I have made an athlete out of Kartik Aaryan.”

In Chandu Champion, Kartik Aaryan essays the role of India’s first Paralympic gold medalist Murlikant Petkar. For the sports drama, which released on Friday, Tridev said the initial conversation he had with the team was that it would be the first time Kartik would be seen bare bodied on screen, and so he had to transform him accordingly. The challenge? The actor’s fitness was in the dumps, with all the basics “wrong”.

“Usually what happens with other actors is that they just transform their body, show six packs and that’s about the only ‘wow factor’ there but here he had to learn new skills. When we started, Kartik was 90 kgs, he had just completed Freddy and wasn’t even training. When we began, he couldn’t do pushups, pull ups, all his basics were bad, the fundamentals weren’t good, there was no mobility for squats, no range of motion. We had to take care of all the elements of fitness, from strength, agility, everything.

“I met Kabir sir and I requested him to give me as many sessions with Kartik as possible and he agreed. It was necessary to have that level of dedication for this. I had told Kartik that his form wasn’t good, so we would start from the basics and he shouldn’t be annoyed. Weight loss will happen if there is a strict diet and work out, but I also had to take care of teaching him skills. Kartik, who couldn’t do pushups when he weighed 90 kgs, by the end of the shoot, he would keep a 50-kg bag on his back and do pushups. The man, who couldn’t do pull ups, by the end of it had weights of 27.5 kg tied to his waistline and did pull ups.”

The trainer said it was a journey of 14 months where Kartik Aaryan would train one hour in the morning–cardio–and another one hour in the evening, where he would focus on strength. On holidays, they would have a session of two and a half hours. The trainer revealed how Kartik achieved the body with a combination of eating right and training hard.

“He cut down sugar completely because we had to reach a single digit fat percentage from 39 per cent. It is a big task, so we stopped sugar and processed food. We slowly cut down the diet– we started with 2100 calories, then came down to 2000, then 1900. The decline was gradual so that the body is eased into it and not exhausted. It wasn’t like intense training and then resting all day, like athletes do, but he was training, travelling for shoots and being everywhere.

“The training was active throughout the shoot, so the focus was that the plan shouldn’t be such that Kartik’s body gives up in a month because it’s too intense. Whatever he would eat, we had to ensure that 750 calories is protein. It can come from protein shake, paneer, tofu, bean patties, 6-7 eggs a day and then of course fat and crabs to get him proper energy to function full day. Kartik respected my process and my knowledge and the result is for everyone to see.”