Two days (June 14th) and already the heat is on for the release of Chandu Champion, a film about Murlikant Petkar, India’s first Paralympic swimming gold medallist. It won him Padma Shri in 2018 and is about India’s first Paralympic swimming gold medalist Murlikant Petkar. The movie grossed exactly around 26.99 lakh according to Sacnilk. Through block booking, it has garnered approximately Rs 70 lakhs at the box office.
To play this role, Kartik underwent a complete body transformation where he lost fat from 39% to 7%, while his weight came down from 90 kg to 72 kg. He also had rigorous training in water for this role as well as boxing. His coaches were full of appreciation and praise for both Tridev Pandey and Virdhawal Khade.
In an exclusive chat with ETimes, Kartik explains how much hard work that goes into becoming Mullicant Petkar’s character. “It took so much time and patience to build this body.” I never thought about making such a film before because it is something new to me in terms of genre. For me mentally or physically I want to give my all-200%. We have several workshops, reading sessions with experts on dialects to understand Marathi lingo better without trying too hard always.” There is a very thin line between speaking right and overdoing it. Above all these things, I am proud of the movie as a whole.”
