Kamal Ghorui
‘Dhurandhar 2’ has been getting a lot of praise from fans and the box office numbers are a testament to that. Apart from Ranveer Singh who headlined the film, every actor has got immense appreciation from the audience. Mustafa Ahmed who played Rizwan in the film has also been soaking in all the love he’s getting but he started off as a fitness trainer who has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry like Hrithik Roshan, Vicky Kaushal before training Ranveer for the film. Mustafa said during a chat with Hindustan Times, “All of them are foodies. Right from Hrithik Roshan. He can eat! I’ve seen him eat 13-14 ghee waali chapatis and he only stopped eating because the next chapati took time to be brought to him. He’s an absolute foodie.”
Speaking about Vicky Kaushal, whom he was set to train for Ashwatthama, Mustafa reveals, “Vicky Kaushal can eat a brick and digest it. I don’t know what kind of metabolism he has. It’s so difficult to make him put on weight or put on muscle. You know, Vicky can just eat anything and just digest it.”He also sheds light on the eating habits of Yami Gautam and Ranveer, adding, “Yami Gautam loves her chai and ghar ka khana. I can tell you that when it comes to Nutella, Ranveer Singh can sniff it out. He will just go and find where Nutella is.”Interestingly, Ranveer’s love for food played a key role in his physical transformation for Dhurandhar. Mustafa shares, “It was Aditya Dhar sir’s instruction that Ranveer has to look like a beast in Dhurandhar, but he cannot be stiff. We had a very short period of time before shooting began and Ranveer was only 75-76 kgs. On the first shoot day, he was 87 kgs. We had to eat a lot!”Praising the actor’s dedication, he adds, “Ranveer is a treat to train. The world knows of his energy. He enjoys weight training. In Ranveer’s words, ‘Sir, loha todte hain.’ Two training sessions a day, for about four to five weeks. That’s how we got Ranveer to look like a man who can rip a person apart with his hand.”Opening up about his association with Aditya Dhar, Mustafa says, “I actually have been training a lot of artists in Aditya sir’s projects. I trained Manav Kaul, I trained Yami Gautam. I was initially hired to train Vicky for Ashwatthama, that got shelved. That’s how my relationship with him started. And then of course, over the years, I expressed to him that I was a very big fan of his work, Uri is one of my all-time favourite movies. And I asked him if there was ever an opportunity where I can maybe just even hold a gun and stand in a frame somewhere, I’d be very happy. I think he probably saw something, he saw that I probably can act.”
