Action star Hairul Azreen goes from fit to fat for a role

Hairul Azreen in the films 'Wira' (left) and 'Pasal Kau'. Photos: GSC Movies and Netflix

To play a hotel staff in the romantic comedy Pasal Kau, 32-year-old Hairul Azreen was told to put on some weight by director Adrian Teh as his character is a bit on the chubby side.

“For my last movie with Adrian, which was Wira, he made me go through a strict regime to become a lean guy. For this one, he asked me to become a big fella!” said the former stuntman turned actor during an interview.

“I really don’t know what his deal is, simply changing my appearance for every movie, ” deadpanned Hairul, who first worked with Teh on the box office hit Paskal.

“I was told of Pasal Kau’s filming schedule in November or December last year. From that point on, I started eating a lot and stopped exercising completely.

“But I only managed to put on 5kg before filming started in February. I told Adrian that if I had a year, I could’ve become really big.

Luckily, Hairul’s face got chubbier first as did his tummy, which helped to make his character’s size believable. He only needed to add padding such as around his biceps, to make his arms seem thicker.

According to Hairul – who looks like his old fit self again during this interview – he became so unfit during filming that he often felt out of breath.

Pasal Kau, set to premiere on Netflix Oct 1, also stars Janna Nick, and almost all the cast members from Teh’s two previous films including Fify Azmi, Henley Hii, Namron, Theebaan G, Taufiq Hanafi and Hafizul Kamal.