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In the Legend of Maula Jatt, we saw a significantly bulkier Fawad Khan, macho like a wrestler yet graceful with his braided hair and contained ferocity. Physical transformations don’t just happen though, you have to work hard to transform your body and Khan did just that, even though at one point he had to be hospitalised because his kidneys collapsed.

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, the Kapoor and Sons actor revealed that going from 75 kilogrammes to 100 in a month and a half was “probably the most challenging thing” he has done in his entire career. He not only had to become accustomed to a new language but also physically transform.

It was extra “taxing” for him because he is type one diabetic, which he has been since the age of 17. “Any kind of transformation, even when it comes to changing my diet and lifestyle, has a profound effect on my health and my physiology. And this was something else. I mean, I went from a horse to rhino in a matter of one and a half months,” he said.

The Zindagi Gulzar Hai actor dove right into it without thinking about the consequences. “Call it bravery or being stupid on my part, but I think it paid off in the end, didn’t it?”

When the interviewer commented on his biceps in the film, Khan talked about how the audience expects a muscular hero who’s sculpted like a Greek god. “This guy is just a prizefighter, a Punjabi pehlwan. And that’s how I would classify his physique. He’s brute force, a rock. He’s not a sculpture,” he added.

Shifting the focus to another aspect of his look, the interviewer asked him about the single red braid in his hair. Khan revealed that they wanted Maula to look like a barbarian fakir. Though it looked cool, he regretted it later as it came back to smack him in the face — literally and repeatedly. “Adding a tassel in his hair with a red ribbon was probably one of the dumbest suggestions I could have made because during the fight scenes it would come and whack me in the face… There was like this long a piece of metal that was tied to the ribbon and to the lock of hair.”

Khan explained that it was an attachment to his hair and whenever he’d lie down, he’d experience some kind of vertigo, dizziness because the weight of it would pull on his scalp. “Even when I would lie down, there would be a separate pillow for my hair. No, I’m just kidding [laughs]! It would be lying on my side [gestures, as if caressing a companion sharing his pillow] you couldn’t just let it hang… I had weight.”

Despite the troubles he faced due to his weighted braid, it was still a better option that his other suggestion, which was to have one of his eyes sewn shut. He wanted to depict how badass he was, fighting great fights and earning brutal battle scars. Thankfully, they settled on a scar on his cheek instead.