Ritesh Deshmukh flaunts Six-Pack Abs for a Song in Housefull

Salman, Shah Rukh, Aamir, Akshay, Saif and even shy guy Ajay Devgn have all gone bare-chested for their films. Now Riteish Deshmukh has joined the league of these topless gentlemen -- men who've shed shirts to conquer the hearts of the audiences.

Riteish will be seen flaunting his six-pack abs in Sajid Nadiadwala's House Full. This is surprising because he has always had the nice boy-next-door image and now, it will be ruined for good.
It all started when Housefull director Sajid Khan's sister Farah (who has choreographed the songs of the film) saw Riteish changing. One look at that lean body and she decided to expose it in one of her songs. She immediately told him that she wanted to shoot him shirtless for the next beach song in Italy along with Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Jiah Khan and Lara Dutta. The cast will be seen coming out of the sea -- the men shirtless and the girls in bikinis. It's a fun, peppy number -- like the '70s number Jaanu Meri Jaan from Shaan."

Riteish confirms, "It was Farah and Sajid who wanted me to go shirtless for this song. I started working out with my trainer Vinod who has taken a lot of effort to help me achieve this body. In stead of bulk, we decided to go for a leaner look.

The look is the kind beach boys or surfers have -- lean, fit and bronzed. It's been tough working out and maintaining a strict diet to get this body but the end result is worth it. Farah didn't know I had a fit body. One day when I was changing for another song she was like wow! She told me to come to Italy and she would treat me like a heroine -- like show off my body!"

Feeling good about it
Riteish adds that though he was initially shy about "exposing", after the first few days, he started feeling more comfortable as people were being supportive. "They made me feel good."
But he doesn't want to be labelled the next sex symbol after SRK, Akki and Hrithik. "I am not too comfortable with that tag. I don't know how to react when people say I have a hot body. It's embarrassing talking about your own body. I give my trainer full credit as he understands my body and motivated me to get a six-pack."

How he did it
Riteish's trainer Vinod Channa has been a professional bodybuilder for the last 14 years and currently represents Maharashtra at the state level. He says, "I wanted Riteish to be muscular and yet not gain weight so I put him on a protein, carbs and fibre diet. He would have eggs, chicken, and whey protein powder for protein, salad-like carrots, lettuce and cucumber for fibre and mashed potatoes and brown bread for carb intake. On rare occasions, he could take rice but no sugar. He worked out for two months and for cardio exercises he would run three times a day, six miles, for 20 minutes at Hyde Park in London. He would feel giddy and weak but still persist. We also worked on his chest triceps, shoulder biceps and abs workout every alternate day for one and half hours."