Ravi Dubey’s transformation photo goes viral; fans compare him to Christian Bale: I’m trying to push the envelope

With a balding head, wrinkles on face and a noticeable paunch, Ravi Dubey looked unrecognisable in the photo and the transformation for his upcoming film Farradday left people in utter shock. Some even went to compare him with Hollywood star and Christian Bale. Dubey says, it very humbling for him more than anything else because “all an actor is basically doing is trying to push the envelope. That’s what we are here for. So if, people are acknowledging that, it feels like a pat on the back, and one is encouraged to do a little more hard work in the future,” he shares with us.

Besides the brilliant use of prosthetic to achieve the look, it’s the physique that’s catching the eyeballs. Though Dubey looks out of shape in the photo, he shares how he had to workout to even achieve that. “I was doing the kind of exercises to tire myself out…exercises that would eat up your muscles. And the idea was to shrink, but yet not look aesthetic. There is a term skinny fat, where you appear lean, but have very little muscle in your body. To achieve that, one has to eat less and less meals a day, and work throughout. This leads to lesser muscle percentage and very high fat percentage, and excessive cardio does that. And that’s what I was aiming for. In simpler words, my exercise regime even right now, as we shoot, is highly cardio based,” shares the actor, who in another interview had talked about how it takes four hours for him to get the prosthetics and make up right.

But more than the physical transformation, what’s more exciting for the actor is delving into the psyche of the character. “To associate with this character at a very human level with what is just in an outline on paper was more challenging and hence exciting for me. If there is a psychological disconnect, nothing else will matter. Even the transformation is going to look frivolous. So, for me and most actors, it’s a psychological synergy with the character that is most important. Physical transformation, the look, attire happens much later.”

For Dubey, it’s a passion project, and revolves around a man who clearly seems unhinged, unhooked from reality, living in his own delusional world. he actor says they are at a very early stage to reveal much about the character or the film.

And to achieve it right, the actor shares, one needs to find a marriage between the person and the character. “If somehow you can unhook yourself from reality, and pull yourself into the vortex of that character, you achieve what you want.”

But even that does not guarantee a result. “Till the time you actually see an end result and get to know, whether or not people will resonate with it, it’s very difficult to say if you’re moving on the right path. So, all you as an artiste do is listen to your intuition and keep working,” he signs off.