In an interview discussing his physical makeover for The Goat Life, actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran revealed that he was aware that it would require a significant weight loss and emaciation. Blessy is the director of the Malayalam movie Aadujeevitham, also known as The Goat Life. The movie tells the true story of Najeeb, an immigrant laborer from Kerala who was forced into slavery on a remote goat farm in a Middle Eastern nation. It is based on Benyamin’s best-selling 2008 novel of the same name.
“I knew as an actor that this was a prerequisite, that to actually portray the entire character arc, I’d have to go through this drastic physical transformation of losing a lot of weight and looking very emaciated,” Sukumaran told Variety.
For the film, which was shot across Kerala, Jordan and Algeria, Prithviraj had to increase his weight to 98 kg for the Kerala part of the shoot and for the scenes where he first arrives in the Middle East. The production then paused for seven months while Sukumaran shed 31 kg.
“I surprised myself and everyone in the film crew, because when I landed up the next time in Jordan, I was almost unrecognisable,” Prithviraj Sukumaran said.
The actor did not bargain on Covid-19, which stalled the shoot immediately after a scene where his emaciated body was revealed, and the crew was stranded in locked-down Jordan for months.
They came back after a year and a half, during which the star had to regain weight just to stay healthy.
“But then I had to redo the whole thing. I didn’t count on having to do the whole weight loss transformation process two times, which I ended up having to do, because it’s a trap. Once you get to that level and you do a portion of the film, then it almost becomes like a thought process in your head. ‘No, I can’t let it go’. I put in so much effort. I can’t let all that go to waste,” he said.
“I know a lot of the (media) focus is on the physical transformation, but that is only a small part of the portrayal. At the very beginning, I had thought of the entire arc. And I had told Blessy that it was going to be impossible for me as an actor to look at it as one long, singular character,” Prithviraj Sukumaran said.
Prithviraj’s next project is the action movie Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, in which he portrays Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff’s adversaries.
“It’s pretty much planned to be a franchise if things go well,” he said in reference to the movie. If you watch movies like “Mission Impossible” or James Bond, the villain always has the real story until the hero shows up to save the day.
Prithviraj revealed that the story of his character Kabir is actually the central theme of the movie, or the plot, and as a result, the character arc is exquisite.
He said: “It’s a very complex character. It’s not your typical one-note bad guy. There is a past, there is a reason why he’s wearing the mask, why his voice is that way. It was a really fun character to play. And I don’t get offered to play these really cool bad guys very often.”
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ releases this week during the Eid frame.
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