Aamir Khan, Rahul Bhatt

If you’ve seen the trailer of ‘Dangal’, you would have surely noticed Aamir Khan as an overweight man and also as a young wrestler with six pack abs. His sheer hard work and efforts to first gain weight upto 97 kg and then shed 20 kg in a span of just six months was shown in a video.

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Now, the man behind his drastic weight gain and weight loss journey Rahul Bhatt (son of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt) has opened up on his training and what went into the making of it. He spoke about it to a leading daily. Said Rahul, “It was my responsibility to lay out the blueprint for his physical coaching. The year I spent coaching him through his weight changes was a learning experience for me, though. I’ve not seen such fierce dedication and passion in anyone.” He added that Aamir did not follow his instructions blindly and had a vision of his own. “Aamir has an encyclopaedic mind. He absorbs and filters facts according to his requirements. He listens carefully. He can differentiate between fact and conjecture”, said Rahul.

He further spoke about his morning routine, “Aamir would wake up at 4 am for the workouts. There were basically three steps to his training. The psychological aspect is the most important. Then the diet and finally the training. All he needed was to be convinced of the psychology of weight loss, the rest just followed naturally. It was ‘mind over fatter’ all the way.” It’s been a year and Rahul still doesn’t feel that he and Aamir are close friends. He says, “Though I was his personal trainer, it was all very professional. I was invited deep into Aamir’s personal space. A confidentiality had to be maintained. I had to safeguard his privacy and mine. I had to safeguard his health and make sure he was injury-free. I’ve achieved that. His success is my success.”

‘Dangal’ helmed by Nitesh Tiwari is a biopic based on the life of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his daughters’ wrestling victories. Aamir Khan essays the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat in the movie. The movie will be releasing on December 23, 2016.