"I resorted to steroid use as well."
Imran Khan began his career in Bollywood with a Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Naa (2008).
In his relatively short career, he appeared in several films and was praised for several aspects.
One of these was his good looks. However, Imran personally did not always feel satisfied with his appearance.
Imran recently commented on the pressure he felt to look masculine onscreen and admitted to taking steroids.
He said: “In the last 10-20 years, it started to become a pressure point for men as well.
“Particularly with the rise of the superhero genre, and Hrithik [Roshan] was the proponent of that.
“Even back in the 1990s, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt were massively masculine dudes.
“When you see it more and more, you start to feel the pressure and say to yourself, ‘I need to look like that’.
“Social media has also intensified it.
“For a long time, I tried to conform to that, but I am not built like Captain America and I don’t have a Thor physique. I tried my best.
“I took all of the stuff. I resorted to steroid use as well but it’s not sustainable.”
In 2023, Imran Khan took to his Instagram profile to detail his journey towards physical wellness.
He also spoke about how depression intertwined with his body image.
The former actor wrote: “In my late teens, guys around me started joining gyms and working out.
“They started to expand, their biceps stretching the sleeves of their T-shirts.
“I wore a size S, and my sleeves were still loose.
“For Kidnap, I hit the gym in earnest and began my journey with bodybuilding.
“Over the next few years, the sculpting and maintenance of my body became part of my lifestyle.
“I worked out regularly, but still I would hear, ‘So, you’ll bulk up a bit before we start shooting, right?’
“In recent years, as I battled depression and stopped working out, I became skinnier than I’d ever been.
“When I was photographed, it sparked a media discussion about my well-being and speculations of drug abuse!
“I felt deeply ashamed, embarrassed to be seen by anyone in this state. So I retreated further.
“It’s been an uphill journey, but these days I’m doing better than ever.
“And while I’m still a tad jealous of those dudes with superhero muscles, I don’t feel bad about myself.”
In August 2024, Imran Khan also divulged his feelings about a sexual assault scene he filmed with Minissha Lamba in Kidnap.
He explained: “There is this part in Kidnap that I found very uncomfortable.
“There’s this quote-unquote romantic song, called ‘Mausam’ and the scene after that is one of sexual violence, where this character drags her back to the den, and it seems for a moment that he’s going to sexually assault her.
“In fact, it begins that way, and then he stops and pulls back.
“I don’t think that scene was necessary, and frankly, I found it very, very difficult to shoot.
“I spent the day shooting that sequence, and I went home that evening, and I found myself to be very, very, very disturbed.
“I couldn’t sleep, I threw up. I just couldn’t get it out of my head.
“The next morning, I went to Minissha, and she had these dark, purple bruises all over her arm from where I’d grabbed her.
“And I was like, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’
“So, I sat down with her and I said that I needed to talk it through with her because I was uncomfortable with how it had all played out.
“She was super-chill about it. She set my mind at ease. But I’ve never quite felt okay about it.”
On the work front, Imran was last seen in Katti Batti (2015) after which he quit acting.
Despite this, rumours of a comeback have been rife in recent months.
In October 2023, Imran Khan said: “I don’t have a clear answer but I am reading scripts and having creative conversations with filmmakers.
“So hopefully next year.”
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