Aishwarya Rai stitched a fat suit for Abhishek Bachchan for a song in Guru which he wore when it was 60 degree Celsius: ‘The rubber from some of the dancers’ shoes was melting’ | Hindi Movie News

Abhishek Bachchan‘s performance in ‘Guru’ is considered his all-time best so far. The actor just hit the ball out of the park with this one and his chemistry with Aishwarya Rai in the film was also too endearing for fans. Of course, it was after this film that she added Bachchan to her surname as they got married! In many ways, ‘Guru’ was lifechanging. Recently, Abhishek attended a session at G5A Cinema House’s Mani Ratnam‘s retrospective. During this session, he shared some anecdotes from his movies ‘Raavan’ and ‘Guru’ which he has done with the film-maker.
He recalled how Mani once threw a googly and made him shoot an impromptu dance number in ‘Guru’ which was a part of the later portions of the character’s life where he had put on weight. Abhishek said, “We were staying in a guest house and it was a day off. Mani came and said, ‘Brinda (choreographer Brinda Gopal) is there, go rehearse, we’re doing a song.’ I said, ‘We’re not supposed to be doing a song; we’re shooting Gurukant Desai’s younger portions.’ When I went down, Brinda master was standing there, totally flummoxed. That’s when I realised Mani had thrown one of his googlies.”
This was the song ‘Ek Lo Ek Muft’ after they get twin daughters in the movie. It was sung by Bappi Lahiri and composed by AR Rahman. However, Rahman had just sent the rough track without the complete music, that same morning. “
Abhishek revealed that the song, “Ek Lo Ek Muft”, composed by AR Rahman and sung by Bappi Lahiri, had only arrived earlier that morning. However, it was just a rough track, without the completed music — a skeletal click track for shooting. “For the first two days, we shot the song using the ‘click’ track because he (Rahman) has sent how this guy’s going to be singing,” he shared. Adding to the challenge, the visuals for the song required him to appear significantly heavier than in the scenes that were to be shot during that schedule. “He had previously given me two months to gain weight. That night, I still remember, Ameira (costume designer Ameira Punvani) and Aishwarya made a fat suit for me by stitching kambals (blankets) together. Then they took some shady grey stuff and put it on my hair. He (Mani) was like, ‘shave your head’. I said, ‘But, we are still shooting the younger portions.’ Amid all this, I was performing to a click track,” revealed Abhishek.
However, when Aishwarya had to shoot her portions, Rahman sent the final track. The actor wore this fat suit when it was 60 degree celcius and even the shoes of the dancers were melting. He added, “Then she started dancing and I was standing there thinking, ‘What is happening?!’” He also shared the intense conditions they endured during the shoot, revealing that Mani Ratnam made him wear the fat suit in 60-degree Celsius heat. “It was summer and we were shooting in stone caves. In that song, you can actually see the rubber from some of the dancers’ shoes melting onto the stones.”
‘Guru’ had released in January 2007. Abhishek and Aishwarya tied the knot that same year in April.