Athlete, fitness and MMA coach Rohit Nair has trained actor Ali Fazal to achieve his Guddu Pandit look in Prime Video’s Mirzapur Season 3. Nair, who also trains Bollywood actors Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde among others, talked to us about his training fundamentals and his journey to stardom.
How did you get a break in the film industry? Who was your first celebrity client?
Rohit Nair: I trained a lot of TV personalities also. My first client in Bollywood was Prateik Babbar. I was working out at a gym, maybe doing boxing. He found that interesting and wanted to train for that. He approached me and that’s how I started. We used to take videos and post them on Instagram, and through social media I got to meet a lot of other people.
You trained Ali Fazal in getting a bulky physique for his role in Mirzapur Season 3. Take us through his transformation process.
Rohit Nair: I’ve been training Ali for quite some time now. Before we started prepping for Mirzapur, we were doing some other projects. In Mirzapur 2, he was quite bulky and he wanted a different look for this one. But he can’t lose his broad frame. What we tried to do was to maintain the muscle mass; in fact, try to gain muscle mass and cut down on fat. For that, we did a lot of weight training. We did animal movement for body control and flexibility. Then we did a lot of combat training and MMA kickboxing because he had a lot of action scenes as well. We did a lot of combat training for the action thing in Mirzapur 3.
What kind of a diet did you put Ali on?
Rohit Nair: Ali’s diet was high protein and low carb, which included a lot of healthy fats as well. So, a lot of veggies, dry fruits, meat and eggs.
Have you worked on any action sequences in this season of Mirzapur?
Rohit Nair: I helped them choreograph the jail sequence. I partnered with the action director Manohar and gave my input.
I have choreographed and done a boxing sequence for Anek, starring Ayushmann Khurrana. I have done a lot of typical filmi action but the action in Mirzapur was quite realistic. Ali wanted to include jiu-jitsu and the moves that he does are MMA, which was really different. I like that because my forte is MMA. I could give better input on this.
You trained Siddhant Chaturvedi for his upcoming film Yudhra.
Rohit Nair: I didn’t work on the action in Yudhra but I trained Siddhant because he wanted to be better at action as he had a lot of action requirements in the film. He did regular MMA and jiu-jitsu with me before he went for the action scenes. Everything wasn’t shot in Mumbai and I couldn’t travel with him, but he trained with me for MMA, kickboxing and jiu-jitsu while he was here.
Do you follow a daily routine yourself?
Rohit Nair: I try to keep a routine where I work out between the training sessions of my clients. But when I travel for a shoot or when client timings are hectic, I do miss my own workout. But I do keep a holistic approach where I train, eat healthy and keep a moving lifestyle.
How do you deal with the tantrums and eccentricities of celebrities?
Rohit Nair: I feel tantrums and eccentricities don’t work when you are working with a trainer or a coach per se. I feel they have a different kind of respect or eagerness to learn and become better at what they are doing. It is more like they want to be on time because they have other things to do as well. Dealing with whomever I have trained has always been smooth. My friends and family ask if my celebrity clients show nakhras but I haven’t faced any problems as such.
How do you divide your time and attention when you have multiple celebrity clients?
Rohit Nair: They have their time slots where they come and train with me. Sometimes I travel with them. When I am not able to travel with them, I send my team members to help clients with their training goals. But I monitor everything.
What is a form of exercise that your clients love to do and a form of exercise they hate to do?
Rohit Nair: I think on behalf of all trainers I can say that all clients, no matter who it is, hate doing burpees. That’s a very common thing for everyone. A lot of people approach me for kickboxing and functional training. Whoever comes to me for training is always inclined towards combat training.
Fitness coach Rohit Nair with Mrunal Thakur.
Tell us about the training regimen for the following Bollywood celebrities…
Rohit Nair:
Prateik Babbar loves doing MMA kickboxing. He has improved in martial arts. I think he’s the first Bollywood actor to get a blue belt in jiu-jitsu. I think he hates not working out. He never misses his workout.
Ali Fazal, even when he is shooting, takes out an hour to train. We do mobility training then. When he has time, we go full-on weight training.
Mrunal Thakur loves training her legs. She loves weight training, largely. She also works out daily. She likes to be fed. She wants to have a healthy lifestyle. She doesn’t like it when I keep her on a strict diet. She likes to have her cheat meals and go crazy on food.
Pooja Hegde loves doing functional training, animal flow and body-weight training. One thing she would hate is actually when I keep her on a strict diet. She likes to have desserts.
Rasika Dugal is a very obedient student. Whatever I tell her, she does it. I am yet to know what she hates.
How has your approach towards fitness and training changed over the years?
Rohit Nair: My basic principle and approach to fitness has always been to be able to perform better. I don’t go training for looks. The look comes as a byproduct.
What is most challenging for you – training a celebrity or making an Instagram training reel with a celebrity?
Rohit Nair: I think making a reel with a celebrity is more challenging. It takes me a week or so to just edit and make that reel. That’s how I understood how difficult it is to make a movie. A 20-second video takes a lot. Slowly, I am becoming good with my camera work also. I’ll be two-in-one very soon.
How did your journey as a fitness trainer start?
Rohit Nair: I was always into sports. I started boxing when I was in school. Then I started kickboxing, wrestling, mud wrestling and all. Then I came to know about MMA and started training for that. I went to Thailand for six months, and competed and trained over there as well. I competed in the World Championship MMA in 2017 and played the Asian Beach Games in 2016. I was always into combat sports. And way before this, I had done my personal training certificate.
To finance myself, I always used to teach people fitness or even combat. I slowly started getting more exposure through social media and word of mouth. Then I got to train celebrities who wanted to train for action or get into a certain kind of physique for a role, and for general fitness as well. I change my training routine with a lot of other things. I add weight training, functional training, kettle bells, animal movement and combat training. So, that makes it attractive for people to join my training.
And how does one become a celebrity trainer?
Rohit Nair: This is a very common question I get on Instagram. What I feel is, if your identity is because of the person you train, then it’s like you are failing. You should train and become better and train anyone you know, whichever client you get. Now with social media, you don’t generally need a celebrity to become more renowned or famous.
You can work on yourself, learn in-depth and perform better. Slowly, whoever you want to approach will approach you. That’s how it works. If you try and chase and become something and leave your fundamentals behind, you won’t reach where you want to be.
