Subhash K Jha/IANS

Mumbai, Jun 11: What is common between Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan? The two are playing double roles, their characters belong to two different time zones in their forthcoming films, and the two have to spend hours preparing for their double makeover.

For Vipul Shah's "Action Replay", Akshay spends at least an hour every morning getting into a 1970s' sporty look without the help of prosthetics.

"It's the toughest role I've played. The preparation takes a lot of time. I've Paul Pattison - who did Mel Gibson's look in 'Braveheart' - doing my look. But the effort is worth it. When I look in the mirror after Paul is done, I can't recognise myself," Akshay told IANS.

If Akshay promises to look unrecognisable in "Action Replay", Saif's look in his production venture "Love Aaj Kal" shocked his girlfriend Kareena Kapoor.

"She couldn't recognise me at first when she saw me as a Sardarji," said Saif.

Imtiaz Ali is wielding the megaphone for Saif's production debut.

So far we've known only the fact that Saif gets into a Sardarji's get-up in the course of the narration in "Love Aaj Kal". But it's not known that the Sikh character is separate from the protagonist.

"The Sardar comes in a story within the story. Yes, I've a double role. The two characters belong to two different time zones," said Saif.

"I grew the beard fully. It had to be faked only for one day's patchwork. I give the full credit for the Sardar's look to Dolly Ahluwalia. She had earlier done a great job dressing me up as Langda Tyagi in 'Omkara'. She styled my Sardar's look in 'Love Aaj Kal," he added.

Saif hasn't done too many disguises.

"But after 'Omkara' I transform physically in 'Love Aaj Kal'. Otherwise I'm not too much into physical makeovers."