Mumbai, Feb 16 (IANS): Actor Gurmeet Choudhary, who left everyone with a dropped jaw with his avatar of warrior-king Maharana Pratap in the upcoming show 'Maharana', trained excessively to get the perfect body type for the show. In fact, he used to train three times a day to get the desired body and he did this consistently for a year.
His workout regime consisted of empty-stomach cardio exercises in the morning followed by intense weight training in the day time and routine weight training in the evenings.
Talking about his preparations for the part, the actor said, "When I came to know that I have been given the chance to play the role of Maharana Pratap and the director is Nitin Chandrakant Desai, I instantly knew that Maharana Pratap will be a very strong person and his personality, larger than life to portray on screen. People admire him for his personality and his immense strength."
Delving into his training part, the actor told IANS, "I just had a year with me for the preparation. Though I have an image that 'Gurmeet Choudhary has a great body', preparing my body for Maharana Pratap was a challenge. The way I used to look before, I had to make myself look different and fitter compared to that. And this was the first time that I was working out three times a day for this one year."
He continued, "In the morning, I used to do empty stomach cardio. In the afternoon I'd do intense weight training and in the evening, I did weight training. For this one year, I was doing my workouts every day and not even on a Sunday I skipped. I was determined to do this. And after doing all this, I felt that ok now I am ready to go on set as Maharana."
Talking about the diet that he followed, he shared, "I was also following a strict diet since to workout three times a day, you need a proper diet. I had a dietician too, who was aware about my aim and what I wanted to achieve. There were two professional trainers for me other than that, a lot of close people around me who supported me in this journey."
It's not the physical aspect of the legendary warrior-king that the actor factored in to construct the character, he also sought help from the literature.
"And about the role, I researched a lot on Maharana Pratap and read every book about him. My director Nitin Chandrakant Desai motivated me a lot. He kept on telling me that I can achieve a better physique. We did several look tests as well, and it is with his support that I have reached here," Gurmeet concluded.
'Maharana' will be soon available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar.