Prashanth Neel reveals Jr NTR lost 15 kgs in 4 months for 'Dragon': 'He went berserk with it, all blame was put on me'

Since the makers have been sharing glimpses of Jr NTR’s lean look in the upcoming action entertainer ‘Dragon,’ his physical appearance is one of the most talked-about topics among fans. As Jr NTR dons his new avatar as an assassin named Luger director Prashanth Neel shared how difficult the transformation journey was for the actor.In a conversation with Galatta Plus, Prashanth Neel shared that around one and a half years ago, they were getting ready to start shooting. Before filming began, they did a look test with Jr NTR. After seeing the result, the director felt the actor could become slightly thinner for the assassin role.“I told him that if you became thinner for the role of the assassin, it would help,” Prashanth shared.But according to the director, Jr NTR took the suggestion very seriously and became completely focused on the transformation.Prashanth Neel said Jr NTR stopped shooting for four months and fully concentrated on losing weight. The actor reportedly became very thin and pale during this period. “He didn’t shoot for the next four months, and he lost about 15 kgs at one point. I asked him to stop many times in between because he started looking frail and became paler but he didn’t stop,” he said. The director also shared that Jr NTR’s wife, mother, friends, and even members of his own team became upset after seeing the actor struggle physically.Prashanth Neel revealed that everybody blamed him for the drastic transformation, but he said Jr NTR pushed himself far beyond what was initially planned. “We were very worried. All the blame was put on me,” he said.He also confirmed that the actor worked with trainers and experts during the process. According to the director, Jr NTR’s trainer arrived within 30 minutes after their discussion, and the transformation journey began the very next morning.Even though the shoot got delayed by a few months, the team was finally very happy with how Jr NTR looked as Luger in ‘Dragon’.‘Dragon’ also features Anil Kapoor, Biju Menon, Khushbu Sundar, Guru Somasundaram, Rajeev Kanakala, Ashutosh Rana among others.