Kartik Aaryan's Fitness Goals

Ahead of his starring role in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, the actor talks to GQ about the strict diet and fitness regimen that helped him transform for his role in Chandu Champion and the impact it had not just on his career, but also on his life.

- SANJANA RAY

WHEN KARTIK AARYAN appears on my screen, he's sporting a red Superdry baseball cap and a sniffle. He's been sick the whole week but is resolute in running a tight schedule. "I just came back from another workout," he says sheepishly. This has been his default mode for the past year and a half, when he started training for Chandu Champion, Kabir Khan's biographical sports drama on India's first Paralympic gold medallist Murlikant Petkar. Morphing into the physique of a superathlete-especially one that excels in wrestling, boxing and swimming and carries only 7 per cent body fat-didn't leave much room for rest. He was to endorse a "champion mentality", a term thrown around on set that roughly equates a human turned machine that keeps running despite frequent wear and tear.

Some would beg for relief from this onerous routine after reaching their target goal, or at least once the movie promotions wrapped up, but Aaryan has embraced it with arms wide open. Even now, as a helicopter cuts across the Mumbai skyline behind him, he's speaking rhapsodically about his evening session, runny nose and aching limbs long forgotten.

The actor, whose hotly anticipated Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is coming out this Diwali, has an unexpected day off from filming that he's chosen to dedicate to chores, instead of popping a paracetamol and calling it a night. The source of this madcap energy? A product of the disciplined lifestyle he's now endorsed-one that further stipulates a meticulous diet and, to a certain extent, mental health care.