Ranveer Singh has built a filmography that doesn’t really sit in one lane. From the easy-going Bittoo in Band Baaja Baaraat to the sly conman in Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, then shifting gears to Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat, he’s moved through characters that demand very different versions of him. And now, with the Dhurandhar films, he steps into the role of an Indian spy, adding yet another layer.
After watching him as Hamza Ali Mazari and Jaskirat Singh Rangi, it’s not surprising that audiences are fixated on the performance. There’s a physicality to it. A certain intensity. Turns out, a lot of that came from a pretty extreme transformation behind the scenes.
How Ranveer Singh gained 10 kg in six weeks for Dhurandhar films
“To look brutal on the screen”, Mustafa Ahmed, who played Rizwan Shah in Dhurandhar: The Revenge, told NDTV, “Ranveer Singh put on 10 kg in just six weeks.”
Mustafa, who has worked as a trainer on several of Aditya Dhar’s projects, including with Yami Gautam for Article 370 and Manav Kaul for Baramulla, shared how he came on board. “That is how I got on the project,” he said.
There wasn’t much time to prepare. “Ranveer had to put on a lot of weight, and they didn’t have much time,” he explained, adding, “Aditya sir said, ‘He has to put on almost like 10 kg and 6 hafte mein hum shooting shuru karenge.’”
When they began, Ranveer was around 76–77 kg. By the time cameras rolled, he was at 87–88 kg. “He packed on 10 kg in six weeks,” Mustafa recalled.
A few things stood out about how he did it:
- Daily calorie intake went up to around 3,600–4,000
- Around 600–700 calories came from each protein shake
- Two shakes a day meant roughly 1,200–1,500 calories just from that
- Diet included chicken, rice and red meat like mutton
- Close to 240 grams of protein consumed daily
“He was eating more than I was. He was skinnier than me when he started,” Mustafa said, adding, “One thing about Ranveer is, if you tell him, he runs like a machine.”
The training approach behind Ranveer Singh’s physical transformation
For the first six weeks to two months, Mustafa trained Ranveer closely. Later, as he also stepped in as an actor, managing both became tricky, especially with unpredictable shoot schedules.
This wasn’t their first time working together. Mustafa had trained Ranveer earlier as well, for Padmaavat, where he bulked up for Alauddin Khilji, and for Gully Boy, where the goal was the opposite. “He is very intelligent, he knows how to lean down,” he said.
What stood out more was how Ranveer approached training. Not just for looks.
“He does weight training to help his breathing and build character. It is rare. Actors do it to pump themselves, but he does it as an artist, as an actor.” He added that Ranveer understands how it helps with breath control, body firmness and overall strength.
“We were training on sets to help his character, our character, look brutal. When you see him on screen, he looks capable enough to kill somebody,” Mustafa shared.
Even between takes, the work didn’t really stop. During lunch breaks, Ranveer would sometimes squeeze in weight training before eating. “It makes the trainer’s job easy. You don’t have to be after his life,” he laughed.
Inside the intense shoot schedule and action prep
If the transformation was demanding, the shoot itself wasn’t exactly relaxed either.
One of the standout sequences in the film shows Rizwan and Jaskirat in a pit, grappling as part of their training to become elite spies. By the time they shot this, both actors had already shed a fair amount of the weight they had gained, but stayed fit enough to look like young cadets.
The routine around that sequence was intense:
- Around 12 hours of shooting
- Followed by nearly 6 hours of action rehearsals
- Total workdays stretching to 16–18 hours
“Imagine shooting for about 12 hours and then going and rehearsing for that action for about 6 hours, so we were literally working 16-18 hours a day,” Mustafa revealed.
The scene was shot in Kasauli. Just getting to the location took effort. A 30–45 minute drive each way. “Driving between shoot and rehearsal locations and coming back to the hotel, I used to feel as if I was going to pass out,” he said.
They had only a day to learn the choreography. After that, it was six hours of practice every day for four days before facing the camera. “It was completely worth it,” Mustafa added.
Dhurandhar released in cinemas on December 5 last year. Dhurandhar: The Revenge, its second instalment, came out on March 18 this year.
