Actor Akshay Kumar on Saturday said that his role in the forthcoming multilingual science-fiction action drama 2.0 demanded that he wear more makeup than he had worn in his entire career as an actor.

Akshay plays the antagonist in superstar Rajinikanth's 2.0, which marks his debut in Tamil.

Speaking at the trailer launch event in Chennai, Akshay said working on the project had been both challenging and fun.

Akshay began his speech in Tamil amid a loud cheer from the audiences. He said he practiced for two hours to speak in Tamil.

Quickly switching to English, Akshay said, "I can't express my feelings in words. I'm really thankful to Shankar sir and Lyca Productions for this opportunity."

Talking about his role, he said: "It was a very challenging role and it took a toll on my body. But the pain and sacrifice was worth it. My character required around 4 hours of prosthetic makeup and another hour and a half to remove it. In my whole career, I've never put so much of make-up."

The film, slated to release on November 29, in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu, also stars Amy Jackson, Adil Hussain and Sudhanshu Pandey in key roles.

By Haricharan Pudipeddi