Adah Sharma reveals she was diagnosed with endometriosis due to stress while gaining weight for Bastar: A Naxal Story

Actor Adah Sharma reveals that she got diagnosed with the condition of Endometriosis due to stress while gaining weight for a film role.

With as many as four releases in the last one year including a mix of OTT and theatrical projects, Adah Sharma is surely enjoying the best phase of career. However, the actor confesses that physical transformation required for all of these projects did take a toll on her health, and she even ended suffering from endometriosis. “I had to be in a different body for these films. For The Kerala Story, the first half I had to be petite and lean, so I look like a college girl. For Commando, I had to be muscular; for Sunflower, I play a bar dancer, so I had to look voluptuous and sexy. Whereas for Bastar, I had to be broad and large, as makers wanted me to have a towering personality so that I could look like someone in charge and control,” says Sharma.

Adah Sharma was last seen in Bastar

In fact, Sharma reveals that for Bastar, she used to eat a lot in order to gain weight, along with muscle mass. “I ate around 10 to 12 bananas a day because they wanted me to gain weight, but at the same time not be unfit. There was a lot of action in the movie. I also had to be really strong because we were carrying real guns which weighed eight kilos, running up and down rocky terrains and mountains. Nuts, dry fruits and a lot of flax seed laddoos... I would carry with me at all times, and eat two of those half an hour before going to sleep,” she recounts.

While gaining weight was in itself a task, Sharma says that picking up heavy guns particularly took a toll on her body and physical health. “In real life, when you do weight training, you are very careful. You breathe mindfully, but on a shoot, you are making erratic movements, because we were fighting a war in the film. My pelvis shifted and I got severe back problems. I’ve been a gymnast all my life and my back flexibility was always my pride,” Sharma continues, “But, in this case, my back was in a very bad state and the film was a stressful one. I don’t know how to keep a role separate from real life, and sometimes I get so involved that I allow it to take a toll on me. I was so stressed that I got a condition called Endometriosis, which means periods non-stop, and mine went on for 48 days.”

It didn’t stop here and the actor soon had to get back in shape to play an attractive bar dancer in her next. “I had to immediately get svelte and sexy for the next character I was playing. I’m fortunate my trainer is my mother so with a mix of yoga, dance and mallakhamba, I managed to shed those extra kilos. I had to do it without doing the jumpy cardio because of my back,” says the 32-year-old, who followed a strictly vegan diet while doing all this.

While all of this has been quite taxing for her physically, Sharma admits that “mind control” is something she got to learn during this process. “When you are stressed, your entire body shuts down; no nutrients get absorbed, your skin doesn’t shine, you lose hair. Sleep is extremely important, and helps you keeping your phone away. When your mind is in a good place, there is nothing you can’t do. Even things beyond your imagination are possible,” she expresses, adding that at the end of the day, all these physical ups and downs are “totally worth it” and gratifying for an artiste.

“As an actor, I always feel I should go that extra 1000 miles for playing any character. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to play and be someone else on screen. What is the fun if you look exactly like your real self in every film. I only see pros. I love what I do and I wait to get roles where I can change my body and mould my mind , my voice ,my personality into someone else. Films remain forever, so I like to give it my all,” concludes Sharma, who will next be seen in The Game of Girgit.