From bulky warrior to lanky vigilante
Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 19, 2014)

Sidharth Malhotra is a worried man. He has less than a month to build up a boxer's physique for Karan Johar's remake of American sports drama Warrior.

"I reprise Tom Hardy's character, a boxer, in the Hindi version," informs the actor, adding that though it's an official remake, director Karan Malhotra has added Bollywood masala to the script. "It's become another film altogether, darker and more dramatic, much like Karan's treatment of his directorial debut Agneepath."

To gain muscle mass, Sidharth has started training in mixed martial arts, including kickboxing and wrestling. "Karan has told me that I need to look physically aggressive and put on weight. It's going to be a strenuous regime," he admits.

However, by the year-end he will have to shed it all, as he slips into character for Bhavesh Joshi. Mirror had previously reported that Vikramaditya Motwane's vigilante drama is running late because of Sidharth's commitments with Dharma Productions. The actor confirms that Warrior will start in July six months before Bhavesh Joshi.

While Motwane remains tightlipped about the details of his project, Sidharth confirms that the plan is to spin a franchise, depending on the response to the first film. When quizzed on whether he plays a Gujarati superhero, he quips, "No. Bhavesh Joshi is just a name. He is a regular, middle-class Mumbaikar who assumes another nocturnal identity and becomes a masked crusader out to protect the city, like Batman and Gotham. He doesn't have any superpowers, only skills."

So, is Sidharth a fan of the superhero genre? "I'm a superhero buff, I'm biased towards Spiderman," he says, admitting that it's a conscious decision to move away from romcoms. "A lot depends on how well Ek Villain does, if the film works, it will give me the confidence to take more risks," he concludes.