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Dangal: Doctors advised 2 months rest to Aamir Khan but he rested for just 2 weeks, and 12 other things revealed

Aamir Khan speaks about how much of efforts did he put while preparing for character, Mahavir Singh Phogat in Dangal.

After releasing two songs from the film, the makers of Aamir Khan’s Dangal have now released a behind-the-scenes video about Aamir’s transformation into a Haryanvi wrestler. The film which is slated to hit the screens on 23 December is a story of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat. Aamir Khan who essays the lead character in the Nitesh Tiwari directorial has been keeping a strict tab on the promotional strategies of the film.

The actor decided to interact with the media in Mumbai during the release of this new video. During the entire session, Aamir made sure to talk about how much of efforts did he put into the character and the effort that the entire film’s team had to take while shooting for Dangal.

Dangal explores a father-daughter relationship and Aamir calls it a thoughtful mainstream cinema. Earlier, talking about the film in another promotional event, the actor said that the film has all the commercial elements from songs, heavy dialogues to action and drama.

Also read: Dear Zindagi quiz: Can you answer these 5 questions that SRK asked Alia in this Gauri Shinde film?

At the launch event of the new video, Aamir answered a few relevant questions about his health. He revealed that the entire weight loss and weight gain journey for his film wasn’t easy. Here’re are 13 revelations Aamir Khan made at the event about his health, Dangal, family and more:

Aamir Khan in Dangal: (Courtesy: Express)

On how difficult was it to gain and lose weight:
It was a big challenge. Putting on weight was easy and fun. But when I had to lose it, I felt I won’t be able to do it as I was 97 kilos and I had a lot of body fat. I was afraid whether I will be able to lose weight on time or not. Nitesh wanted me to do the younger version first and then put on weight. But I told him if I do so, then there would be no reason for me to lose fat. So I opted for the older role first.

On was he worried about the extreme weight gain and loss:
My wife Kiran and mother were worried but I was not. I was worried about the film and my character and performance.

On did he feel like he had made a mistake by opting for this role:
At one point I thought I had committed a mistake by gaining so much weight. But the key to success was to take one step a day and forget about the end result.

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Aamir Khan in a still from Dangal

On being repetitive in sports genre with Dangal:
I am doing a sports film after 15 years, my last sports film was Lagaan. Its not that I am only doing sports film. In between I did films like 3 Idiots, Taare Zameen Par, Rang De Basanti. Be it any topic, the story has to be good. I don’t choose genre, I choose scripts.

On his reaction when he saw himself with that pouch:
I was shocked to look at myself in that state (with a pouch). I had completely forgotten how I used to look. I used to have difficulty tie-ing my shoe lace, had difficulty walking. My whole body language changed.

On how he dealt with the injuries while shooting:
I had lot of injuries, I had injuries on my back, on my ankle, on my shoulders, both my elbows. I had six to seven injuries during this film, but none of them was so serious to have stopped my work. The only time it stopped my work was when I hurt my back during a wrestling scene. It was very painful and I couldn’t shoot. The doctor advised to take at least two months of rest and I didn’t have time for the rest. So I took only two weeks of rest.

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Aamir Khan in a still from Dangal

On what did he eat to put on weight:
I ate everything that we are not suppose to eat. Ice creams, cakes, brownies, chocolate — I used to eat everything.

On his son, Azad’s reaction to your pouch:
He used to see his papa becoming mota. He told me once that he used to find me very cuddly. When I was fat, he used to find me like a bear, but then later when I lost weight, my body became very hard.

On playing a wrestler with six-packs abs:
Well, there are different kind of wrestlers. The ones who fight in the mud have big pouch and they are huge, but if you see Sushil Kumar and others, they have six-packs.

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On will he do another film where he has to put on weight again:
It was very difficult for me to put on weight but if I like the script, I will do this kind of a film again.

Aamir Khan in Dangal (Courtesy: YouTube/ UTV Motion Pictures)

On will demonetisation affect Dangal:
I don’t want to get into political situations. I hope it (demonetisation) doesn’t affect our film. I think things are slowly getting back to normal. I think Rock On 2 did get affected (due to demonetisation) because it had released right at that time. But I believe Dear Zindagi is doing quite well. Hopefully, I think it will not affect our film.

On is he expecting an U/A certificate:
It’s a universal film. It’s more about family and I think it will get an U certificate.

On should it be declared tax free:
I believe it’s a film which has the parameters of getting a tax exemption. So I think it falls under that category. But that’s not for me to decide. Ultimately, it is for the state governments in each state to decide that. But we will be applying for tax exemption and we are going to try for it before the release. But it’s a process, it may happen or it may not happen. I can’t predict how long will it take.

Also read: Dear Zindagi weekend Box Office: Is the SRK-Alia film a proof that good content can overpower everything including demonitisation?