EXCLUSIVE! Kartik Aaryan on Chandu Champion: ‘Just like Murlikant Petkar, I refuse to surrender’

In a candid chat with Firstpost, Kartik Aaryan says that just like Murlikant Petkar he never gave up whether it was the hurdles of coming to Mumbai or his struggles in the film industry. Chandu Champion is much more than just a sports biopic. It’s more of a human story. He had to undergo a rigorous transformation for his role.

 Edited excerpts from the interview:

How is  _Chandu Champion_  going to be different from other sports biopics?

This is not just a sports biopic, it’s more of a human story and about a man’s journey of achieving goals despite all shortcomings. In a regular sports biopic, the story generally revolves around the game. But this is different. It’s a very emotional journey. It’s a story of every Indian and extremely relatable. You can feel like this can be your story because each and every story has some kind of struggles and obstacles. I feel this journey of Murlikant Petkar that I portray in my film is so relatable in so many ways. I could even feel a relatability factor with my own journey. It’s multi-dimensional. He was also a soldier. There are so many aspects to his life. He has been a multifaceted guy. Though the trailer highlights the sports bit, it is much more than that**.**

 How much do you relate to the character of Murlikant Petkar ?

I think his attitude of never giving up is something that I have always followed in my entire life journey so far. One line of the film is, “The man who refused to surrender.” That is one line that I could relate to in my journey. Whatever I achieved till now, whether it’s coming to Mumbai and being a part of the film industry happened only because of this attitude. I always had this never quit attitude.

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What made you agree to this role of Chandu Champion?

I think the story. The moment Kabir Khan (sir) narrated the story of the film, I was just blown away by it. I was surprised that we don’t know about this story. This should be out there and everybody should know this. It was a life changing experience working in this film.

On working with Sajid Nadiadwala…

I have had a good opportunity working with him for Satyaprem Ki Katha. I really enjoyed that journey. This is going to be my second collaboration and I hope this too becomes a success story like  _Satyaprem Ki Katha_ .

What do you have to say about physical transformation? How difficult was it?

I used to work out twice or thrice a day which included a sport that I used to play. I used to have a swimming session in a day or boxing session in a day plus the regular weight training. And there was a physiotherapy session because your body is like a pitch stop, you need to rejuvenate again and again. I had several injuries later. I had to take physiotherapy so that my body doesn’t get tired of excessive training.

And there was an extensive diet plan too. This was the most difficult part because I am a big foodie and for me to leave everything aside and continue that for a couple of years was something I thought I would never be able to sustain. But thankfully, I have not gone back to my previous diet. Now I am used to this diet. I am tracking everything whatever I am eating. It was a high protein diet and since I am a vegetarian, I used to have a lot of tofu, paneer and beans and also vegetables for the fibers. Instead of rice, I used to take cauli rice.

WATCH the trailer of Kartik Aaryan’s Chandu Champion here: