Vikram starved during I shoot

Chennai: Actor Vikram, who lost about nearly 50 percent of his original body weight to play one of the roles in forthcoming Tamil magnum opus "I", found it tough to control his urge to eat.

"It was extremely difficult to control hunger. It drove me crazy," Vikram told IANS.

In "I", which is directed by Shankar, the 48-year-old actor plays dual role of a body builder and a hunchbacked disfigured man.

"For the role of the bodybuilder, I had to beef up and work out extensively in the gym to have a muscular body. I could've easily achieved that with the help of steroids, but I avoided it despite being wooed into using it by professionals," he said.

"It was for the role of the disfigured man that I lost nearly half of my original body weight. Shankar never wanted me to lose weight for this role but I did it anyways. I had to control my hunger to achieve the desired look. I literally survived on fluids," he added.

Vikram admits there were instances he couldn't control his hunger.

"I completely stopped going out during the course of the shoot as we wanted to keep the look a secret. Since I spent most of my time at home, I was tempted to scarf down homemade food, especially biryani," he said.

"Some days I ended up eating in the middle of the night. I would eat anything that I found in the fridge. I just couldn't control my hunger," he added.

Also starring Amy Jackson, Upen Patel and Suresh Gopi, "I" releases in cinemas worldwide Wednesday. It is touted to be the most expensive Tamil film.