Akshay Kumar’s pregnant. Don’t believe us? Check out the promo of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. Well, okay, you got us. Men cannot get pregnant; at least not yet! However, when Akshay, who returns to the small screen with the show that aims to get us a fresh set of stand-up comics, decided to shoot for the promo they decided to do something he has not done earlier. And who better to aid in such a pursuit but Preetisheel Singh of Da MakeUp Lab!

Result: We see Akshay Kumar with a rather convincing baby bump in the promo. Needless to say, the actor pulls it off with élan. And the team behind the wonder – Preetisheel and Mark D’Souza – are beaming. The duo are the reason behind some of the ground breaking prosthetic work in Indian films in the last few years, including films such Bajirao Mastani, Haider and Nanak Shah Fakir. And this promo got them back together with Akshay Kumar, who they worked with during Brothers. “It was a funny concept to have Akshay Kumar sport a pregnant belly, but I don't think anyone else would be a better sport. This promo gave us one more opportunity after Brothers to transform him into something else and we were kicked. We really look forward to working with him again,” elaborates Preetisheel talking about the shoot.

Gone are the days when a pillow was tied around the waist to make someone look pregnant. With professionals like Da Makeup Lab available, filmmakers have started realizing the magic of the authentic look. The prosthetic that Akshay wore for this particular shoot was created in the lab and took a good one week to get done.

Da MakeUp Lab is presently Bollywood’s preferred team when it comes to creating looks for films, something they have effortlessly done for a spate of upcoming films - Padmavati, Bhavesh Joshi and 102 not out.