Surya's six packs create sensation

You just have to hand it over to Surya. That this guy could essay all kinds of role and get into the soul of any character he played, we all knew.

But could you ever have imagined his bronzed body highlighted with rippling muscles, bulging biceps, terrific triceps and six-pack abs? Not possible, you say? Well, what do you know.

Surya is indeed showing off a whole new body. Move over SRK and Sly Stallone, Surya's the new guy on the block with the hottest body this season.

Surya's beefcake look has everything to do with his getting into the skin of his character for Gautham Vasudev Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram. And before you can say dumbbells, you realise Surya's never looked this fit before with his Ramboesque chiseled abs. Speaking to Chennai Times at his well-equipped personal gym, the actor, thrilled with his image makeover, says "It took a lot of hard work and sweat, nearly four months of a controlled diet and workouts to build my six-pack abs. No pumping steroids or popping pills for me. I am proud of it."

Since the film demanded that Surya look this fit and muscular, the actor got into the act right away. "A mean and macho look is necessary in the second half of the film, where there are a lot of action scenes.

After discussing with Gautham, I decided to go for this look to make my role, in which my character ages from 16 to 64, look convincing. ."

It was around this time that he bumped into Aamir Khan, who is doing Surya's Ghajini remake in Hindi. Khan advised that Surya go for a trainer and be "systematic and devoted" to this body-building commitment.

"In Mumbai, I got introduced to Alkhas, who was recommended by Aamir, and decided to give him a try. He came down to Chennai and monitored my diet and workouts from middle of December, at a time when I had the thin pencil like look for my character's younger days. In the beginning it was difficult, what with my busy shooting schedule, but slowly I got used to it and even started liking it," says the actor with a chuckle.

Surya was forced to follow a very strict diet. The actor feels he was successful in losing 10kg because he followed his diet regime religiously and did not touch any rich oily food or carbohydrates like white rice, pastries, sweets, white bread or red meat.
He combined his diet with workouts and exercises, such as crunches and leg lifts.

One of his close friends had imported some machines which were set up at his gym and he used to do all his exercises there. Alkhas also taught him the importance of cardio workouts and strength training with weights to build muscles, so as to raise metabolism in order to lose weight and burn fat naturally. Added Surya: "The small frequent meals raised my metabolism and helped me build lean muscle mass. I' m glad I took fitness seriously, because as a hero who does action scenes, I have to look convincing on screen."

The only thing he missed was his frequent eating-out with his lovely wife Jyothika. Says Surya with a tinge of sadness: "Jo and I are foodies, I miss my mom's homemade food the most. Jo does not like to go out with me, because I don't touch the food we order. Earlier, we always used to share her favourite dessert brownie with vanilla ice-cream at the end of the meal."
However Surya can take heart that he will be the only hero in Kollywood with a six-pack abs. According to a survey conducted recently, most women consider six-pack abs as the most attractive part of Hollywood and Bollywood hunks.

Today more than half a dozen Bollywood stars are working on their abs, including guys like Shahid Kapoor, who says, " Sexy muscle is a symbol of a fit andhealthy man". As Surya concludes- " I have started liking this look and will maintain it for my next film Ayan. Initially it took a while for the idea to sink in, but now I'm comfortable with my new look." Surya's rippling six-pack abs will create a new trend in the male- dominated Kollywood, where physical looks hardly mattered till now.