Kuldep Sethi is back at his crib. Back to his favourite sound — the loud thud of the weights and the smell of iron. The popular fitness trainer who is at the helm of ‘360 Degree Fitness’ is also enjoying his new found fame as an actor with his debut in the Ram Pothineni-starrer iSmart Shankar. Kuldep is also earning a lot of praise for the body transformation he did on Ram for the movie. “Ram had approached me in December last year to train him. I couldn’t work with him then because I had signed up to train and upgrade myself in Muay Thai. After I returned, I heard about the auditions for Puri Jagannadh’s iSmart Shankar. I went for the auditions. I had this desire to act and I wanted to do it on my own merit. Luckily for me, I fit the negative character and bagged the role,” says Kuldep.

Helping in ‘body transformation’ of actors is not new to Kuldep. Having worked with actors like Charan (for Chiruta and Magadheera), Varun Tej, Sundeep Kishan, Vijay Deverakonda and Raashi Khanna the trainer is unfazed with people asking him about Ram’s body transformation for iSmart Shankar.

“After I finished my part of the shoot, I bumped into Ram once again on the sets. He needed some help with training and since I was available, I offered to help. After a few days Ram asked me to train him for six packs. We had 35 days and both of us took it up as a challenge. Ram pushed his limits and kept training even when he wasn’t shooting. This was complemented by a drastic diet change and we were able to meet the requirement within the stipulated time period,” explains Kuldep. Is the trend of six packs on its way out among actors? Kuldep avers.

“Six-pack abs is not out, the torso of an actor is always in focus. It depends on the requirement of the role and scene. Every role demands a definite look. For example when I worked with actor Karthikeya for RX 100 he needed a bulky muscular look, then we worked for a lean look for Hippi.”

Is there a quick route to get a good body? “There is no shortcut to fitness and health. One needs to work out and also take care of nutrition and a balanced diet,” he says.