The chiselled jawline, the drastic weight loss and the younger-looking Adnan Sami were enough to create major buzz on the internet. Last month, he shared a few pictures from his family vacation in the Maldives, and his ‘new look’ had people raving with fans wondering: “How can someone turn that hot?”

He laughs as he finally opens up about this transformation. “I have, for the longest period, had issues with my weight, and it has been a lifelong struggle. I keep, for lack of a better word, yo-yoing, going up on the scales. The first time I lost a tremendous amount of weight was around 2007-2008. Then, I kept putting on and losing weight. It’s a part of life. This time, too, it was a typical occasion when I had lost some weight,” says the singer, who weighed 230kg before he transformed the first time around. Now, he fluctuates between 75-80kg.

Sami goes on and says those pictures, which were widely circulated on social media, weren’t to inform people about any major change. “I posted them as routine. I didn’t realise it will suddenly go and catch the attention of people, but it did,” gushes the 50-year-old, who is ready with his latest single, Alvida.

When we ask whether this latest weight loss was a result of intense workout and strict diet regime, he denies. The Lift Kara De singer-composer shares, “I am a Leo according to the zodiac sign, that’s another word for being lazy! I am that by nature, but when challenged, I can move mountains. I just had a rigorous diet, controlled my intake of food and very particular about what I was eating. Sometimes, when people ask, I laugh and say, ‘It’s a see-food diet’. I also play squash, which is intense.”