Prithviraj Sukumaran says he used to fast for 72 hours for Aadujeevitham transformation: ‘Would drink only water and black coffee’

Prithviraj revealed that he lost 31 kgs for Aadujeevitham and at one point, he would fast for 72 hours so he could achieve the desired look for the movie.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | March 20, 2024 07:06 PM IST

4 min read

Prithviraj in a still from Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life).

Prithviraj Sukumaran went through a massive physical transformation for his upcoming film Aadujeevitham. In a recent interview, Prithviraj admitted that achieving this look took a toll on his body as the actor said that he was fasting for 72 hours at a stretch. For him, it was even tougher as he had to undergo this transformation twice as the film’s shoot was halted due to the pandemic.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Prithviraj said that the only way to get the look was to starve himself of food. “The idea was that I looked like somebody who does not have access to enough food, and was starving most of the time. The only way I could do that is to actually adopt that process, which means that my transformation was almost entirely based on fasting. At times, I used to fast for up to 72 hours. I would drink water and black coffee, but nothing else,” he said.

He admitted that pushing one’s body to this limit is not just a physical thing, but mental as well. “Humans are equipped to do two to three days of fasting. When you wake up the second day, your mind is telling you to just eat. And that is when the real challenge kicks in. The idea was to lose as much weight as I can but I think I shocked myself by losing 31 kgs,” he said.

Aadujeevitham is about the story of a young worker from Kerala, who ends up becoming a slave in the middle east. Cut off from the outer world, he is made to toil hard as a shepherd in the desert. Prithviraj has put in extreme physical labor for the film over the past ten years.

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Over the years, many Indian actors have resorted to such extreme diets. A recent example would be Randeep Hooda, whose mirror selfie went viral on social media recently. The actor has gone through an extreme physical transformation to play the role of Veer Savarkar in his biopic. However, the actor, in an interview, warned people of the dire consequences of losing weight at such a rapid pace. “The first thing is that common people do not need to lose so much weight. Actors like us have to go through such aggressive preparations. It also happened to me that my film, which was supposed to be ready in three to four months, took more than a year to be made. Due to the long schedule of this film, I had to remain underweight for almost 7 months. During that time my weight will be around 62 kg. Due to having such a low weight, I am facing many problems. Firstly, it is becoming very difficult in the recovery itself. Apart from this, problems started coming in joints and digestion. I would not like to recommend such a diet to anyone,” he told India Today.

Similarly, Pakistani actor Fawad Khan also revealed the negative impact of such a drastic physical transformation. The actor bulked up and lost the fat in a short span for his film The Legend of Maula Jatt, which left his kidney in a dire state. He was hospitalized for three months due to the side effects of the weight loss. He told Something Haute, “It is not the best thing I did to myself. I would never do that again. I just made some questionable choices, which negatively affected me. There is a dark underbelly to all of these physical transformations and people should know that when you make these decisions, it is taking a huge toll on your health. And it happened. Ten days into it, I was hospitalized. My kidneys shut down.”

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