Rewriting history

Unlike most other protégés of Ram Gopal Varma, Mohit Ahlawat hates being called the ‘blue-eyed boy’. “I am not dependant on him, though I do look up to him as my mentor. I have a couple of films lined up that will be out of the Factory’s production,” he states.
As of now, he is glad to be part of a Ram Gopal Varma’s Shiva and Sholay. “In James, there wasn’t much scope for emtions and there was no real motive for the guy to fight back, but in Shiva, my character is more streamlined for action.”
“I worked for three years on James, it was like a workshop and I learnt a lot from it,” he said. As far as it failure at the box-office goes, Ahlwawat says he doesn’t look into the past.
One of the most striking features in him is his great body. “I am glad it is noticed. I have worked very hard on it. Before I joined the industry my weight was around 125 kilogrammes. When I realised that I wantd to be a hero, I started crash-dieting and in some months I lost almost all my weight.”
Instead of being happy, Ahlawat says it was more painful than anything else. “I took very ill. I was dizzy all the time and had severe blackouts for the next six months. I finally headed abroad for a proper training in fitness, that’s how I got into my current shape.”
More than Shiva, Ahlawat is more exited about being a part of the remake of Sholay. “It is like a dream project. It is like trying to rewrite history,” he says. Going by the hype, his performance in the film might just catapult him to his superstar status.

Published in Hindustan Times Next on September 16, 2006