Zoya makes PeeCee sweat

Zoya Akhtar made Priyanka lose 7 kilos for Dil Dhadakne Do.

Priyanka Chopra's move from a boxing ring in Mary Kom to a business suit in Zoya Akhtar's Dil Dhadakne Do was not an easy one.

The actress had to lose some extra baggage on the way - seven kilos of muscle built while training to play the pugilist in the biopic.

The actress had trained with boxer Jharna Sanghvi over the last year to get the brawny physique of the Olympic medal winner. But Zoya wanted Priyanka to look svelte for her turn as a suave businesswoman from a Punjabi family in her film, which is currently being shot aboard a cruise liner sailing through Europe.

Priyanka had only 20 days to knock off the weight gained over the past year and worked with Jharna to achieve the goal.

When contacted, Jharna says: "It's usually not easy and advisable to cut down six-seven kilos in just 15-20 days. But boxers can lose that much in about 20 days with the right weight training and activities like skipping, running and a controlled their diet because they are trained for it. Priyanka did just that."

This was coupled by a strict diet to shed the kilos quickly.

"Priyanka's diet included a lot of carbohydrates then. So her weight shot up. And from the day she completed her shoot, I put her on a proteinrich diet and eliminated carbohydrates. Regular exercises and running for at least 30 minutes helped too," says Jharna.

Priyanka is currently shooting for Dil Dhadakne Do with Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Anil Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar.

The cast and crew departed for a two-and-ahalf-month schedule last month.