Malayalam superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran's next big film, Aadujeevitham, also releasing under the title The Goat Life is gearing up for a massive worldwide release in cinemas starting March 28. The upcoming survival drama film written and directed by Blessy is an adaptation of the 2008 bestselling Malayalam novel Aadujeevitham by Benyamin, which is based on a true incident, and features music composed by Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman. The Goat Life revolves around Najeeb Mohammed, a Malayali immigrant laborer who is forced into slavery as a goatherd on an isolated farm in Saudi Arabia, with Prithviraj now in an exclusive interview with Galatta talking about the various challenges he endured physically for his role.
Opening up on the experience of shooting The Goat Life, Prithiviraj said, "I lost about 31 kilos for the film. That photograph, that form you've not seen actually in any posters or the teaser or the trailer, you'll see in the film. That one scene where I take off what I'm wearing, you'll see the body of this person. You'll see what I did. But, it was a huge mental task. My transformation was based on not eating. Literally. I was fasting. Sometimes I would fast for 72 hours. Regularly I would fast for 24 hours. And, before the film started, there was an 8-month period where I was always fasting everyday for sixteen hours. So, it was all based on fasting, which is just not eating and abstaining from food."
Speaking further about The Goat Life, Prithviraj said, "My biggest memory about shooting this film is always being hungry. When I wake up in the morning, I would feel hungry. When I'm shooting, I would think about food. When it's pack up, it's about my hunger. When I'm going to sleep, I'll again think about how I hungry I am. And, at night, sometimes I wake up because I'm hungry. Then, I'm like, 'I can't eat because it's the middle of the fast.' So, my overbearing memory is all about hunger. But, I keep repeating this, sometimes when the director says lunch break in the desert where we used to have this tent, and we had a big crew, they used to be sitting and eating, and sometimes it would be like biryani. And, I'm not eating and I'm sitting there hungry, angry and exhausted. Suddenly, a thought takes over me, 'This is what that man must have felt. He must have felt the same. He must have been hungry.' At least, I have a choice where I can get up and go and say, 'Listen, I need to eat something. Just give me little bit of food.' I had that choice. I'm deciding not to do it. What about him? What about Najeeb? How hungry must he have been? I have a nutritionist, who's counting my calories. There is a trainer monitoring my heart rate and blood pressure. There's a doctor on the sets ready with an IV and everything. Who was there for him?"
Watch Prithviraj talk about The Goat Life in the video below:
