Vinay Pathak loses 25 kgs

Vinay Pathak is playing a regular guy in a film called Straight. And that isn���t as easy to do as it sounds. The once-rotund actor had to gradually lose 25 kgs.
���The role is to die for. Actually I did it more for director Parvathi Balagoplan who���s one of my oldest and dearest friends in Mumbai. Parvathi and I go back a long way. When I came from Bihar to Mumbai to become an actor we were flat mates...though there was nothing ���flat��� about me at that time,��� chuckles Vinay about his weight.
���I was part of Parvathi���s serial Margarita. And I���ll always have very fond memories of that experience. I was not just an actor there. I doubled up as many things and made her promise I���d be in her film when she directs one.���
Apparently, Vinay had to audition for the lead in his friend���s film. ���I don���t mind auditioning at all. I wanted to play Naseeruddin Shah���s role in Mithya. I auditioned and lost the part, played something else. That���s all right. Anything for a friend like Rajat Kapoor. I had a fleeting role in Mixed Doubles. People still remember that. So it isn���t about the size of the role. In my own production Dusvidaniyan and in Saurav Shrivastva���s O My God, I have author-backed central roles. I enjoyed those as much as the smaller parts.���
In Aditya Chopra���s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Vinay plays one of the three main characters along with Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka. Vinay is all praise for Aditya, ���He���s very attentive, very open to suggestions, considerate and wonderful. Yes, he does believe in keeping his projects under wraps. But now that I have turned into a producer I know how important it is to protect your project from premature exposure.���
Speaking of protection from public exposure, recently there was a story of Vinay���s marriage being in trouble. Vinay laughs, ���What can I say? I���m happily married to Sonika for seven years. We have two lovely daughters. We couldn���t be happier. My career couldn���t be better off. I���m busy for the next one year doing the kind of work I believe in.���
Subhash K Jha