It’s official: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, is a worldwide hit.
The sequel to the Telugu cinema smash-hit, Baahubali: The Beginning, brought home $10.1 million in the United States on just 450 screens, the biggest box-office launch ever for an Indian film in the U.S. The film follows the story of a warring royal family in an ancient kingdom.
Helping things along? Star actor Prabhas, who underwent a major body transformation while training for the film, getting absolutely jacked to reprise his role as Shivudu in the fantasy epic.
Just like fellow Indian actors Aamir Khan (who added pounds of muscle and got down to 9% body fat for his movie Dangal), Kunal Kapoor (who went from flabby to shredded for Veeram), Karan Patel (who got rock-hard muscle after some intense training), and Ajith Kumar (who added muscle mass for his film Vivegam), Prabhas got cut, too—just check out his muscles in the trailer:
Prabhas prepared for the film by training with Laxman Reddy, an Indian professional bodybuilder and winner of the Mr. World 2010 bodybuilding championships. Reddy took Prabhas through an intense training routine that included cardio, weight training, and muscle toning moves.
“Prabhas weighed almost 100kg with his body fat percentage staying in the range of nine to 10. For the younger character, he had to build a toned body with minimal muscles,” Reddy said to The Statesman. “ In the evenings, we had weight training sessions, which included deadlifts, squats, bench press, and other rigorous exercises.”
Nutrition was also a key factor for Prabhas and his transformation: “He would have six meals with egg whites, chicken, nuts, almonds, fish, and vegetables thrown in,” Reddy said. “For Bahubali prep, he had eight meals a day, carb-heavy with cheese and mutton.”
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion is in theaters now.
Here are some looks at the results of Prabhas’ labor over the two films:
