Kumail Nanjiani reveals he wanted to look like Hrithik Roshan in The Eternals

Kumail Nanjiani is essaying the role of Kingo, a buff Eternal who is a cosmic-powered being who lives in the present day as a Bollywood star in The Eternals. His goal was to look like Hrithik Roshan in the Marvel film.

By: PTI

Los Angeles | Updated: March 11, 2020 04:44 PM IST

3 min read

kumail nanjiani hrithik roshan the eternals

Kumail Nanjiani aimed to look like Hrithik Roshan in The Eternals. (Photo: Hrithik Roshan/Instagram (left), Kumail Nanjiani/Instagram (right))

Pakistani-American actor Kumail Nanjiani had one-line brief for his trainer on The Eternals — he wanted to look like Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan.

Nanjiani is essaying the role of Kingo, a buff Eternal who is a cosmic-powered being who lives in the present day as a Bollywood star in the Marvel Studios film.

The Silicon Valley star had his own ideas about just how beefed up Kingo should be.

“I wanted Kumail to have the freedom to interpret his character, especially his physicality,” director Chloe Zhao added.

For that, Nanjiani turned to Bollywood and invoked Roshan, the Indian actor who has played the superhero Krrish in a film series.

“I went to my trainer and said, ‘I want to look like this guy (Roshan)’,” Nanjiani told Men’s Health magazine.
https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/1237404866680504321
But the actor had another hurdle to cross after his physical transformation was complete: he started getting body dysmorphia, a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance.

“I don’t want to discount people who genuinely have debilitating body issues. I don’t have that. But I did start getting some body dysmorphia. I’d look in the mirror and I’d see my abs and when I looked again, they would fade. I would just see the flaws,” he added.

Story continues below this ad

In December, the actor shared a few of his shirtless photos flaunting his abs.

Nanjiani said though the photos on Instagram helped, he wants to be “easy” on himself.

Also Read | Kumail Nanjiani is the ‘biggest Bollywood movie star’ in The Eternals

“When I saw that reaction was when I was like, ‘Okay, I clearly don’t see what’s actually there.’ It’s something that I’m trying to be aware of and be better at, because that’s not a good way to be. You want to be easy on yourself,” he added.

Story continues below this ad

From the homepage