Considered one of Bollywood’s most eligible bachelors, Aditya Roy Kapur is among the fittest actors of his generation. And while he enjoys all the attention he gets from the ladies, he admits that it isn’t easy to maintain that level of fitness, what we’d call ‘hotness quotient’. In a quick tête-à-tête, the actor reveals what goes into looking the way he does, the appreciation he got for his OTT debut and more. Excerpts...

While he’s undeniably good-looking and loves the compliments coming his way from fans, Aditya confesses that he’s quite critical about his own self. “We are all so critical of ourselves and we constantly feel... oh, I am fat, oh, I am this, I am that, when actually others feel that you are looking just fine. So, it is all about perspective, right? I am like anybody else. I have my days when I don’t feel good about myself or feel unattractive. I don’t have a six-pack all the time! Also, because I am tall, everything else gets distributed (on my body). I might appear very fit, but I am not that fit all the time. I am constantly feeling like I need to lose weight. I have self-doubts like anyone else has. Having said that, the compliments I get are flattering. At least all the hard work and the dieting has some upside to it (laughs)!”

Ask Aditya, if there’s anything he would like to change about his body and pat comes his reply, “I want to change my metabolism. There are some people who are blessed where they can eat whatever they want, and they don’t put on weight. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with me. If I eat, I put on weight instantly. It is tough to stay in shape, especially for someone who’s a foodie. I have to be extremely disciplined if I have to be in shape. If I lose track and cheat for 3-4 days in a row, I try and get back in shape in the next 10 days. Earlier, I used to put on 15 kilos and then get busy losing those 15 kilos. But as you get older, more than physically, it is mentally taxing to be that extreme. So, it’s better to keep a watch on my food intake.”

As an actor, you are always under pressure to look good, but if a character demands that I have to look overweight or not flaunt a chiselled body, I am absolutely okay with it. In fact, in my repertoire of movies, I have done films that did not focus on my physical attributes like Kalank, Ludo, Daawat-e-Ishq and I definitely want to continue to do that, otherwise, I will get bored looking a certain type all the time.”

The actor won a lot of praise for his OTT debut, The Night Manager, in fact, with the series he has grabbed more eyeballs than ever before. “I don’t know if it’s ‘the most’ (I’ve been appreciated), but I definitely feel appreciated. The appreciation and acclaim have been heartwarming. I feel at various junctures in your career a project comes along which cuts across and crosses over. Back in the day, a project that changed things for me was Aashiqui 2. I won a lot of love and appreciation for that film. I feel Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani was quite special too. So yes, I have had such special projects in my career, and it is really nice to savour these as an actor,” he says.

Considering the athletic frame that he has sported throughout his career, one would assume that Aditya Roy Kapur would have had to up his fitness regimen by only a small proportion to acquire the lithe physique of Shaan Sengupta in The Night Manager.

“I’d wake him up early and send him off on a run. I’d make him execute drills, like push-ups and pull-ups. There was a fair amount of weight-lifting work, callisthenics, and floor work involved. We also incorporated some amount of martial arts training,” says Robin Behl, before adding, “But you are right. He has an incredible physique!”

Behl has turned his attention to athletic techniques that prioritize “good quality” movement over “traditional forms in which you’re simply lifting without purpose]”. That Kapur’s Shaan, a former navy officer, also needed to come across as someone who has “freedom of movement” implies that Behl’s learnings could indeed serve Kapur.

“Primarily, a lot of strength and conditioning work was involved. We didn’t want to focus on what this could do for this project alone because we wanted to develop [techniques] that could serve him for other projects as well. So, it wasn’t about the aesthetics alone. I love gymnastic rings, and also incorporated weighted exercises into his routine. Fasted cardio works well for him, and we injected small bits of cardiovascular training into his weight-training routine to burn fat. When callisthenics is blended with lifting, you can create a [holistic] routine. While movements like pull-ups and push-ups work on the entire group of muscles and improve stability, isolated weight-lifting exercises helped me train the muscles that [needed to be enhanced for the show].”

If it wasn’t for the resolute Kapur, Behl admits navigating the long training schedule during the shoot, battling extreme temperatures, and keeping him on a caloric restriction that was only sufficient to sustain his activities, wouldn’t have been possible. “We didn’t want to drive him to a stage of burn-out. There was barely any gap between [the shooting schedules] and we wanted him to retain his energy levels. If he was pushed to exhaustion, his body wouldn’t react. We were doing a mix of a lot of movement. We ensured that he tracked his nutrition, ate clean and limited his intake to the amount his body [essentially] required, and kept his macros in check. Three days before a body shot, we’d eliminate salt from his diet. He’d be on minimal calories and would consume a low-carb diet. At one time, he was eating only 1,800 calories, [which could be difficult to adhere to] since he is a big guy. While he was in a deficit, I couldn’t push him or make him lift heavy weights. There had to be a sync between his nutrition, training, and [rest]. It’s a relationship between three elements. I had to ascertain that he was getting the required amount of rest and that his stress levels were in check. But, Aditya takes on any task [with diligence]. He doesn’t have a half-hearted approach. So, even after a 12 to 14-hour shooting schedule, when he’d see me waiting for him, he’d be ready to train within five minutes.”

Rashtra Kavach OM is Aditya Roy Kapur’s first full-blown action film. In a chat with Bombay Times, the actor spoke about his action avatar, the work that went behind looking the part, lessons learnt and his admiration for Sanjay Dutt as an action hero. Excerpts:

As you get older, you realise that everything is transient. You have to keep going back to work every day. Don’t fly too high when things go well and too low when they don’t. You should not allow yourself to get swayed by the ups and downs. If I were to give a message from my experience to aspiring actors, I would say, work gets you work. Don’t give up any opportunities at work. Don’t wait for that perfect time. If you have an opportunity, take it. You never know what it might lead you to.

Maybe the new title is more relatable. I think the producers felt that Rashtra Kavach OM would connect more with the audience. It’s one of the two main conflicts in the film. The story is about patriotism and these are the relevant themes of it. They felt the new title would resonate more with the audience. Whether it will help or not, only time will tell.

This film has a strong emotional anchor and that takes the story forward, that’s what struck me the most. Action is the icing on the cake and that is the beauty of the film. It’s a story about a family. It’s about the mother-son bond as well as a son looking for his father, his quest for truth and his responsibilities towards his job and the country. The story has many layers, so this was an interesting character to play. Of course, external factors like the action scenes are also there. Director Kapil Verma and producer Ahmed Khan have put in a lot of action in the film, but what drew me to the film was its emotional core.

I have done the whole gym thing before. I had bulked up a lot for Malang, but this one needed me to learn action. Ahmed sir and Kapil were clear that they wanted me to do the stunts. I underwent rigorous action training for three-and-a-half months as the action had to look realistic. Interestingly, action is the antithesis of bodybuilding. You lose muscle when you do action, so I had to train accordingly. If I trained for action scenes for two hours in the morning, I had to work out for two hours in the evening to rebuild muscle. It was extra tough as I had to bulk up a bit as well. This is the most physically demanding role of my career so far.

It is tough to maintain a strict diet beyond the shooting schedule. I like my food! Every now and then, I need to go off the rails on a three-day food bender, but not more than that. As soon as I wrapped up this film, I went to my parents’ house and had delicious mutton curry cooked by my dad. I work well when I have a goal. I put my blinkers on and focus. Once it’s done, it’s important for me to let my hair down. Earlier I used to yo-yo. I used to lose a lot of weight and then gain a lot, and that can get mentally tiring. I have reached a sort of equilibrium in the last two-three years where I am a little more consistent. I no longer allow myself to undergo three months of crash diet to get into shape. I am at a physical stage where 20 days of workout is sufficient for me. Consistency has found its way into my life.

I don’t think I am veering too far away from the complicated characters I have played so far. Funnily, this film has patriotism and action, but my character here too has an emotional side. It has all the ingredients of my previous roles (smiles). This was also an emotionally draining film for me and it had its set of challenges. Once you see the film, you’ll realise that this character has been put through a whole set of situations that could weigh heavy on anyone. This role gave me something to sink my teeth into as well.

(Laughs!) I do wonder that! Well, there have been films like Ludo, OK Jaanu and Daawat-e-Ishq where I have played lighter roles and believed in the brighter side of life. I guess the roles that stood out have been the more intense ones. As an actor, I think I have also got a chance to showcase my other side. My filmography has been fairly varied, but yes, I would like to do more comedy and varied stuff for sure. One doesn’t want to keep doing the same thing again and again.

I take it in a positive way because these guys have done such amazing work in this genre. This is my first step into it. It will take me a few more action films before I can be compared to these guys. If the comparisons are still made, I would be flattered by them. Who doesn’t want to be compared to something or someone good!

Sanjay Dutt’s personality is most striking. He has this aura and an edgy look. He built a great physique back in the day when it wasn’t common, and that was inspiring.