While the first look and teaser of Kangana Ranaut’s Thalavi may have opened to mixed reactions on social media, fans and critics alike agree that the actress is almost unrecognisable in her avatar as the politician.
While the use of prosthetics has gone into the transformation, Kangana, in a recent interview, opened up about the physical demands of the role. "Vijay (producer) wanted me to resemble her as closely as possible. She (Jayalalithaa) endured a drastic physical transformation in her life. Having grown up as a Bharatanatyam dancer, she had an hour-glass figure. Then, when she joined politics, she had an accident which demanded that she be injected with huge doses of steroids. While we could not depict all of that, we did take measures (to resemble her during these phases)," she said.
Kangana has earlier shared about struggling to gain weight but for this role she put on six kilos. The actress also revealed she took mild dose of hormone pills since she is tall and lean but had to put on weight near the belly and thighs. She has also started eating food that promotes weight gain.
The makers of the movie have teamed up with Jason Collins for the prosthetic. "His team made a structure that was suitable to make me look voluptuous. During the portions showcasing her as a young politician, we aimed to only make my face look fuller. As for the rest of the body, it took the team seven hours each day to acquire the look. The hands had to be re-done, and different kinds of pads were used for different parts of the body," Kangana said, who also underwent Bharatnatyam and Tamil language sessions to play the role.
The actress has also been working on her demeanour, which stands in contrast to that of Jayalalithaa. Titled as Thalaivi, the movie is slated to release on June 26, 2020.