This is going to be an action-packed year for Sanjay Dutt. After a bone-crunching killing spree in Mandwa (in Agneepath), the actor recently filmed a hard-hitting climax for his next film, Zilla Ghaziabad, in which he plays a heroic cop, modelled on Thakur Pritam Singh. Fondly known as the Badshah of Bulandshahr in his ‘zilla’ (district), Singh was gunned down in 1998. It was believed that the land and liquor mafia he was targeting had plotted his assassination.

However, the tough part about this role is the change in Sanjay’s workout regime. The actor spent the last many months putting on muscle to look like the larger-than-life Kancha Cheena. “Kancha was a very strong character. The idea was to take a simple boy-next-door, Vijay, and throw him in front of this evil giant, and eventually have him slay this Goliath, like a modern-day David. I had to really build muscle,” explains Sanjay.

“I set up a whole gym in Diu which Hrithik (Roshan) was thrilled to see when he arrived. We ended up working out together during the shoot. I even cooked for him food like soup, grilled fish and steamed veggies.” Kancha demanded institutional training and workouts that required Sanjay to lift a lot of weights. But Zilla Ghaziabad, he admits, called for a different plan. “This guy is not as huge as Kancha, he’s more ribbed, and that means more hours of cardio,” points out the Bollywood actor, who’s currently celebrating the success of Agneepath, this year’s first blockbuster.

The last two years, he candidly admits, haven’t been great. But he’s hit a jackpot in early 2012 and is hoping that the winning streak continues with Zilla Ghaziabad and Ajay Devgn’s action-comedy SOS Son Of Sardar. “Even though he’s such a hit, it’ll be a relief leaving Kancha behind. He terrified me, I had to keep telling myself, ‘This isn’t me!’” he says.

Sanjay DuttAnd what’s the score on Badri? He bought the Hindi remake rights to Pawan Kalyan’s Telugu superhit and gifted it to friend Ajay Devgn to compensate for the commercial failure of Rascals. “Yes, I’m producing the film, we’re working on it. As to when we start, it will depend entirely on Ajay,” says Sanjay. “If he wants it to be his next film after SOS, we’ll flag it off this year, otherwise it can roll next year. It’s Ajay’s call.” Other actors joined the beefed up league Hrithik Roshan is beefing up for his role in Krrish 3 Vivek Oberoi is beefing up for role in KLPD Imran Khan is putting on weight for Vishal Bhardwaj's Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola