Taapsee Pannu's Physical Transformation For Rashmi Rocket Is Inspirational

Sports drama Rashmi Rocket starring Taapsee Pannu is expected to release in 2021. The story follows the journey of a sprinter from a small village of Gujarat. Directed by Akash Khurana, it also stars Priyanshu Painyuli in the role of her husband. The actress has undergone a major physical transformation for the portrayal of the role. With strict diet and vigorous training sessions, she has left no stone unturned to play her character with utmost perfection.

Taapsee Pannu uploaded a video on Instagram capturing her strenuous preparation for her role as a sprinter.

 

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Here are the key takeaways from the video showing her new robust look:

Her playful and athletic childhood

In the staring of the video, she talked about her school days when she was very active in sports and games activities. In fact, she won a school running race at the age of 6. That is when she started taking part in every race competition till class 5 and she always won a medal. She felt that her hyperactive and competitive nature pushed her into the activities.

"When I started preparing for Rashmi Rocket, it almost felt like a deja vu. It felt like I was back to the starting line." she said. Taapsee further added that she motivated herself that she can ace it again like she did in the past.

No steroids and artificial supplements

When she met her trainers, she strictly made it clear that she won't use steroids to attain an athletic body. She wanted to train and tone her body her body in a natural and believable manner.

Munmun Ganeriwal and Sujeet Kargutkar, Taapsee Pannu's trainers in Rashmi Rocket, reiterated that they made sure not to use any banned substances or artificial supplements for rapid transformation. Her meals were purely homemade and she used natural substances for her preparation. They wanted the entire process to be genuine and natural.

Struggles of women-centric movies in Bollywood

Taapsee talked about the challenges of a women-centric film in the industry. She opened up about the budgetary constraints in such female-driven movies compared to a similar sports drama with a male protagonist.

She said, "Male-driven sports drama have a far better budget to spend on VFX, touch-ups on the body and other aspects to make everything seem real in less time. However, I wanted to make everything real and genuinely work on myself."

Her hectic schedule

Further Taapsee said, "Being a actress, I didn't have the liberty to sit at home and solely prepare for the role. So, I was doing other films simultaneously." She spoke about how she vigorously worked out for two hours and then went for her 12-14 hour long shoots.

Her training sessions

About gymming, she told that she was never a gym person as she doesn't work out in gym regularly. However, she was bound to hit the gym for the preparation of the role. Her trainers were initially worried about how well they would be able to make her appearance look athletic. When they started shooting, they only took inspiration from real sprinters and athletes and how they look for the preparation of the role.

"My trainer was worried about how we will make her look like a sprinter with strong muscles built over years. But all of us were here for a challenge. We started working out and it took me around a month to be able to lift heavy weights. I never thought that I would ever lift such heavy weight of over 200 kgs."

Dr. Prachi Shah, her physiotherapist said that they had to make sure that she works out efficiently, but is also able to act after vigorous sessions. She also told that Taapsee is very hard-working, punctual and eager to do whatever it takes to attain perfection.

Her team also talked about how mammoth this task of her physical transformation from the body of an actress to a physique of a sprinter was. As her testosterone level was not high, it wasn't very easy for her to gain the physique. The sessions used to totally drain her energy out. Moreover, her other shoots added on the exhaustion and risk of injury.

Difficulties during shoot

Taapsee encountered a huge challenge which didn't let her continue the shoot for a month. While her training went smooth, her body couldn't take the load anymore after the third day of the shoot. Halfway through her sprint, she had to stop as she couldn't run. In fact, she couldn't lift her legs and had to go for physiotherapy for two hours straight.

The entire team got scared, as it was only the third day of the shoot and the finish line was far away.

Her fear, anxiety and pain

More than the team, it was Taapsee who was anxious about the entire situation. Although she was hard-working and ready to take up anything in order to achieve what she wants, she was skeptical at that point and didn't really know what to do. It was a very scary feeling for her.

"It was painful. Every time I used to lift my leg, it used to hurt. That's not how one can shoot an athletic film. My trainers told me that I will be fine, but it will take time. My trainers were more confident than I was. It took my body a month to reach the level of experiencing 'bearable' pain. "

She expressed how she was so scared about her body for the first time ever. While shooting, she was always anxious about which body part of hers will start paining again. In fact, this feeling is still with her about whether or not she would be able to perform.

Her resolve and hard-work

Taapsee told that she initially felt that it wasn't her cup of tea. However, she was happy that they were able to achieve what they wanted to a large extent. Her motive wasn't to prove anyone, but to try it out and see what it leads to.

She said, "I really want people out there to understand that it is possible. For years, people told me that I was ordinary. Yes, I do believe that I'm ordinary. But if the transformation is possible for me, that means that ordinary people are meant to be extraordinary things. Because if I can do it, so can they."

Her team was very proud of her resolve and efforts and how she nailed her transformation. Finally, she said, "I'm finally ready to run my final race. I don't know if I would be able to do it convincingly, but I know that I will definitely do it. And I will enjoy every second of the time I'm on track."

Also Read: 10 Things To Know About Taapsee Pannu’s Upcoming Film Rashmi Rocket

Sugandha Bora is an intern with SheThePeople.