Physical transformation minor part of portrayal: Prithviraj

CHENNAI: Actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran has talked about his transformation for The Goat Life and shared that he knew he would have to go through a drastic physical transformation, losing a lot of weight and looking emaciated. The Malayalam film is directed by Blessy.

The film tells the true story of Najeeb, an immigrant labourer from Kerala forced into slavery on a remote goat farm in a Middle Eastern country. 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 he shed 31 kg.

“I know a lot of the (media) focus is on the physical transformation, but that is only a small part of the portrayal. 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,” he added.

Up next for Prithviraj is playing the antagonist in Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. Talking about the character, Prithviraj shared, “It’s a complex character. There is a past, there is a reason why he’s wearing the mask and why his voice is that way. I don’t get offered to play these really cool bad guys very often.”