/> Abhishek is still trying to lose all the weight that he had put on for his role in Guru. "I've lost more than half of the weight I had put on. Still working on losing more.

Actually putting on weight was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I was just eating day-in and day-out. You tend to get fed up of it. It was tough. But it was required for the role and therefore definitely worth it."

Mani Rathnam required Abhishek to put on at least 11 kgs for the role in Guru. "I didn't at that time think about whether I'd be able to lose the weight or not. I was told by Mani that I needed to put on weight, and that's what I did.You don't question Mani Rathnam."

Says Abhishek, "When you work with someone like J.P. Dutta or Mani Rathnam your work is cut out from the start. For Guru I had to assume a different look for every era from the 1950s onwards.

We planned out the schedules in a way where we proceeded chronologically, and we shot the film at a stretch, so that I could carry out the subtle changes in my look through the decades that Mani was keen for me to do."

Mani Rathnam preferred to wait for Abhishek's dates at a stretch rather than do the schedules separately. "Like I said, Mani is extremely prepared when he comes on the sets. So all I had to was follow his instructions."

While Umrao Jaan features a lean look for Abhishek, Dhoom 2 featured him in the cool-cop look. "That meant I obviously couldn't look shabby. So yes, it's a pretty cool look."