Parineeti Chopra’s fitness secrets – onmanorama

After a brief hiatus, actor Parineeti Chopra is back in business – sporting a different look. She reveals the work behind her lean body.

These days, every female actor’s biography seems to have a line on her weight loss. Such is Bollywood’s uncompromising attitude towards its female leads that it becomes a compulsion for the stars to adhere to a certain standard of desirability set by the industry. Add to this the social media’s penchant for body shaming, the stars have a lot (or should we say, lot less?) on their plate to chew on.

Despite the boldness she portrays on screen, it looks like actor Parineeti Chopra, too, has bent down to this demand. A set of pictures released to the media by her managers recently to celebrate four years of the actor in the industry has a very lean and fit Parineeti cocking a snook at her shamers.

Named ‘Built That Way’ the photoshoot created a storm of sorts on Twitter. Parineeti, however, denies any attempt at complying with the demands of the industry. According to her, she was only trying to help girls deal with weight issues. “My new fit look should inspire those girls who believe they can never knock off the extra flab, that everybody has it in them to become fit. You just have to really push yourself harder,” says the actor. She elaborates, “After I started doing films and up until a year ago, I did not get the time or the chance to work on my fitness. I was tied up with various films. But post Kill Dil, I had some time to spare and decided to look at fitness seriously and work towards it.”

Flab story

When Parineeti debuted in Maneesh Sharma’s Ladies vs Ricky Bahl in 2012, she was anything but fit. She was, however, vivacious and her innate skill to blend into the character seamlessly could not go unnoticed. She might have been too chubby for the industry’s liking, but for her fans, it was difficult to overlook her talent or not like her spontaneity. She stayed on in the industry by virtue of her talent alone. An unforgiving media and industry kept reminding her of how she could do better with a little toning up.

Parineeti says she was always overweight and this new look is something she had always aspired for. “I have always been an overweight girl. Th ere was a time when I weighed 82 kg. It was the desire in me to look fit and feel fit, and wear better clothes, which led me to get up and start working on my body,” she adds.

Flashback time

Parineeti’s growth from wanting to be a banker to an actor is known to everyone. She studied banking in Manchester and had dreams of working as an executive either in the U.S, London or Singapore.

After her course ended, however, she could not fi nd her dream job, thanks to recession. She did not want to go back home to Ambala in Haryana. She decided to move to Mumbai and look for an internship. Her cousin, actor Priyanka Chopra, was then shooting for Pyaar Impossible and Parineeti decided to hang out with her for a while. Subsequently, she interned at Yash Raj Films (YRF) for a while before she was hired in the marketing department. Soon, like a typical 22-year-old, she got bored with her job. She told this to director Maneesh (Sharma) who had become a good friend by then. She told him that she wanted to become an actor and was thinking of joining acting school.

It was only later that she got to know that he had suggested this to producer Aditya Chopra of YRF even before she told him. On the sly, Maneesh sent her to casting director Shanoo Sharma, who auditioned her and in no time, she had signed a three-film deal with them. Within three years, Parineeti carved a niche for herself in the industry. Most actors term her as one of the most promising actors of gen-Y. As luck would have it, Parineeti came in to the industry at a time when voluptuous actors like Vidya Balan and Sonakshi Sinha were creating waves. “I agree that the industry has become more accepting. I wasn’t countering that. Whatever I did was for my own sake and not because the industry wasn’t accepting,” she says.

Fitness routine

If you are impressed with her toned-up look and want to know her fi tness routine, you are not getting much. Parineeti confesses she never followed any particular routine. “Being the kind of person I am, I do not like to be forced into a routine. I am at that point in my life where I don’t want to limit myself. Being a spontaneous person, I need to treat my fitness routine also in a similar way.”

Parineeti did not want to adhere to the usual cardio and weight training. Hence, she made it a point to mix up her fitness routine. “On some days, I hit the treadmill, on other days, I used to swim for a considerable amount of time. I also enrolled myself into Kalaripayattu, a form of martial arts from Kerala which I thoroughly enjoyed. My whole idea was to stay active, skip the mundane and fi nd a balance. I wanted to keep myself motivated and also enjoy myself.” Consistency too played an important part in the story.

As for her diet, Parineeti says there was no deprivation involved. Instead, she ate whatever she wanted. A true blue Punjabi, she confesses the love for food is in her DNA. “I still eat whatever I feel like. But over the last one year I have become more conscious about my meals. I don’t eat anything after 8 pm,” she says. She also makes it a point to remind herself every day that she eats only healthy. She keeps it light during the night. “But it’s not possible to follow a particular diet as I don’t believe in depriving myself. If I feel like eating that piece of cake, there’s no stopping me. But I try not to over-indulge and sweat it out the next day,” she adds.

A year after her decision to get fit, Parineeti is happy to have taken it. She has realised, fitness of your body reflects on every aspect of your life, including work. “It has started showing in my work, too. When you start working out, it is not just about your body, but your mind de-clutters, too. You become more active in your day-to-day activities and the energy you bring to your activities is just amazing. It is fascinating to see how you change as a person when you start looking better. I would endorse fitness for the reason that it makes you a better person.”

Parineeti is a fine example of how perseverance and persistence can make you reach new heights in life. But the key is also to never give up. To Parineeti, fi tness is not just about a better body, it has made her stronger mentally. She, however, feels she is a work in progress. And we can’t wait to see the end result!

(In arrangement with SMARTlife)