The first glimpse of Dragon has already created a storm among Jr NTR fans. While his fierce new look became the biggest talking point, director Prashanth Neel has now revealed the intense effort behind that transformation.
The makers unveiled the teaser on Wednesday, May 20, to mark Jr NTR’s birthday. Soon after, Neel opened up about how the actor lost nearly 15 kg in just four months for his role.
Speaking to Galatta Plus, Prashanth said the idea came during a look test held about a year and a half ago, just before the shoot was supposed to begin. After watching the test, he felt Jr NTR would look sharper if he lost a little weight.
“I told him that if he became thinner for the role of the assassin, it would help,” Neel said.
But Jr NTR took the suggestion far more seriously than expected.
“He didn’t shoot for the next four months and lost about 15 kg at one point. I asked him to stop many times because he started looking frail and paler, but he didn’t stop,” the director revealed.
The drastic weight loss worried everyone close to the actor.
“His wife was upset with me, his mother was upset with me, his friends were upset with me. Everyone who knew him was upset with me. My whole team was also upset. But I told them it was not my doing. I only asked him to lose a little weight, and he went berserk with it,” Neel said.
The director admitted that it was not easy to watch Jr NTR push himself so hard.
“We were very worried. All the blame was put on me,” he said, adding that the team saw the actor suffer a lot during the process.
Ad: Pickles made to order- Free shipping on 3 kg
However, Neel clarified that the transformation was done under professional supervision. Once the discussion happened, Jr NTR immediately got into action.
“His trainer arrived in the next 30 minutes, and he started the process the next morning. We had to postpone our shoot by a few months, but at the end of the day, we were more than happy with the result,” he said.
With the teaser already generating huge buzz, Jr NTR’s dedication has now added another layer of excitement around Dragon.
