The man who helped Farhan Akhtar build a boxer’s body for ‘Toofaan’

Celebrity fitness expert Darrell Foster shares how he works with actors such as Farhan Akhtar, Will Smith and Antonio Banderas to get them in shape for sports dramas

It is not just the protagonist’s surname that Toofaan (2021) and Ali (2001) have in common. Two decades after actor and fitness expert Darrell Foster moulded Will Smith’s Muhammad Ali in shape, he has done the same for Farhan Akhtar’s Aziz Ali, in Toofaan. Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehta, this sports drama is set to release on July 16. Ahead of its premiere, Foster connects from his Los Angeles home to discuss the process of getting inside the mind and body of a boxer. He did that for Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson in Play It to the Bone, for Matt Hamill in Heart, Baby! and now, for Farhan. The Bhaag Milkha Bhaag star isn’t a stranger to movies that demand rigorous fitness routines, but playing a national-level boxer brought new challenges. “We went over the pugilism fundamentals first: balance, footwork, hand and eye-coordination. Then we taught him to work on the heavy bag, the speed bag, to skip rope — everything necessary for him to portray his character,” says Foster.