During the four months that he spent with his trainer while prepping for Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, Adarsh Gourav would often call Robin Behl at the close of the day. This wasn’t a call for fitness-related advice. Gourav wanted an earful — a yelling from his trainer to be reminded about how crucial it was to turn up for training the next day, even if he didn’t want to. “The toughest part is exercising on the days that you really don’t wish to. You may have had a fight with your family, or be unwell, but when the audience sees your body on screen, and if it’s not up to the mark, they won’t care about what you endured,” says Gourav, who has been able to phenomenally build his physique to play the part of a callisthenics trainer in the film.

Gourav turned to Behl for help in November 2021, when he wasn’t reaping enough benefits from his routine. When Behl began to work with him, he found him to be a “notch above skinny, but strong, nonetheless”. “But, there was no muscular definition. Since he needed to showcase the skills of a callisthenics trainer, his training had to be [intense]. For his body to match that level of training, we needed to first up his caloric intake. Building muscular definition came later.”