Not just Randeep Hooda in 'Sarbjit': Here are other actors who underwent extreme weight loss

For his role in Omung Kumar’s biopic on Sarabjit Singh, Randeep Hooda has gone to extreme lengths to ensure his portrayal is as realistic as possible. And while depicting Sarabjit — especially his over two-decade long incarceration in a Pakistani prison — required Randeep to really dig deep, nothing quite beats his having to drop over 18 kg in just 28 days.

 

 

To get the emaciated frame necessary for the role, Randeep went on a “starvation diet”, monitored closely by his doctor and family. “The first time I met Randeep, I told him that I wanted to see his bones. He took up the challenge and shocked even me,” said Omung Kumar in this Times of India article. Kumar added that while the rest of the cast was eating their meals, Randeep would get by on coffee and water. And if losing weight was a challenge, the actor had to put back on 20 kg for the flashback sequences.

Like Randeep, several other actors have shed weight drastically for their big screen projects. Here’s a look at some of the most extreme cases:

 

 

When Tom Hanks was supposed to play the Robinson Crusoe-like Chuck Noland in Cast Away, the team shot those portions of the film meant to show Hanks’ character before he is marooned on the island, and then gave him a whole year to lose weight for the scenes that would show him as a cast away. To begin with, Hanks had to kick his coffee addiction and replace his favourite beverage with tea. He would work out for two hours every day, and drink copious quantities of water to replace all the liquids he’d lost.

As for food, Hanks tried to eat as many natural foods as possible, like fruits and vegetables. He was also allowed crabs, coconut and coconut milk — the food plan has actually been labelled the ‘Cast Away diet’. Hanks had joked that during the first two weeks of filming, the amount of food he was allowed to consume would fit into one palm. He reportedly lost 55 pounds (24 kg) though the regime.
Hanks had previously shed some 26 pounds (about 11 kg) to portray an AIDS patient in Philadelphia.