In the action-comedy Stuber, Kumail Nanjiani plays the meek and diminutive Uber driver to Dave Bautista’s aggressive and hulking cop. But it seems that in real life, Kumail Nanjiani is taking a page out of his co-star’s book and hitting the weight room and bulking up. The comedic actor is apparently jacked now and it cracks Dave Bautista up to see it, as he explained:
I love that he’s kind of obsessed with it. To me, he’s like a child, like learning something new. I just get a kick out of it because that’s something I’d done my whole life. It’s been a lifestyle of mine for 40 years. But he’s just starting to learn and starting to get gains. He’s getting excited about his arms getting big. It tickles me to death.
In his comments to the Associated Press at the Los Angeles premiere of Stuber, Dave Bautista seems positively delighted to see Kumail Nanjiani embracing physical fitness in such a fervent way. As someone who has made physical fitness not only part of his lifestyle but something that his careers have depended on, watching Kumail Nanjiani take to it must be quite fun for the actor, like watching a younger brother experience the joys of riding a bike for the first time.
It’s cool to see this reaction out of Dave Bautista and it’s something we can all relate to. We all know what it’s like to introduce someone to something we love or know a lot about, be it an activity, a movie, whatever, and see them really enjoy it. It’s a rewarding experience and Dave Bautista seems to be getting some of that from seeing his Stuber co-star turning into a gym rat.
Kumail Nanjiani is apparently obsessed with working out, and according to Dave Bautista, he is now getting excited because he is finally getting gains. That’s understandable and pretty common. For lots of people working out sucks and takes a while to get into consistently, especially when you aren’t seeing results. But once you start seeing those gains and the fruits of your labor, that drives that excitement to keep going.
That obsession seems to be paying off for Kumail Nanjiani too, as Dave Bautista went on to say:
He’s put on 20-30 pounds of muscle. Now, he’s trimming down, he’s starting to see his abs really come in. He’s like really impatient, ‘When are my other two abs gonna come in?’ They’ll be there, dude.
Kumail Nanjiani corrected Dave Bautista elsewhere on the red carpet, saying he didn’t quite pack on 20 pounds of muscle, although that was his goal. After putting on a lot fast his gains slowed down, which is only natural. It seems that after going through that bulking process to just put on muscle, he is now trying to cut to have a more toned look and achieve that universal symbol of fitness: the six-pack.
He is apparently getting impatient waiting for those pesky last two abs to pop, but like any good friend and mentor (although they say they haven’t actually worked out together yet), Dave Bautista is trying to instill patience in him that the abs will come. Which may be true, but not everyone’s genetics result in perfect action-figure six-pack symmetry.
While Kumail Nanjiani’s newfound dedication to his own health and well-being is to be applauded and doesn’t have to be for any specific reason, you have to wonder if there is anything behind it. Like a movie role, perhaps? The actor has been attached to Marvel’s The Eternals, so maybe getting jacked was partially so he could play a superhero in that Phase 4 film. Perhaps we’ll get some clarification at San Diego Comic-Con next week.
Stuber is now playing. Check out our premiere guide to keep track of everything headed to theaters the rest of this year.
