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The making of a hunk

V S Srinivasan

Akshay Kumar. Click for bigger pic!

To start of by being a little nasty, let's just say he's been known more for his Tandons than the tendons he ruins while climbing the side of the building he lives in. But, however much one may deprecate his acting, Raju aka Rajeev Bhatia aka Akshay Kumar aka Akki, is one fit dude.

Besides the craze for rope climbing, and the complicated stunts he exhibits in his movies, Akki is also a member of the British Hang Gliding Club.

Of course, it is the movies in which we see him. The sheer animal power he exhibits as he gyrates and twirls tirelessly through those numbers, and fighting with the economy of movement of an expert. That, and the remarkable innocence about him, is what makes Akshay attractive and charming respectively.

But when we sought the secret of his success of him, Akshay rejected the notion that muscles are a hot thing to have.

"I don't need muscles. What I need always is sheer discipline. I can do anything without that. I do keep my body in shape but then I have other ways of doing it." And the first thing he is careful about is food.

Rajeev's routine His day starts off at 4 am with two glasses of hot water. He then jogs through the back streets when "there is not a single soul out there, not even a dog to bark at me." He returns and exercises. And after that? He sleeps. If there's work at about 9 am, he arises afresh at 8 am, completes his morning rituals and breakfast and rushes off to work. After work, he polishes off a special dinner cooked by his mother, returns home and promptly goes to bed. To be back up at 4 am the next day.

"See, I totally avoid junk food. In fact, I do not like to eat out at all. Even If I go for a party, I avoid eating. Another reason... is my mother's recipes." That sounds like it is unappetising enough to keep him thin, till he hastens to add, "She is a wonderful cook and makes that keeps me fit. I go for typical Punjabi food, which keeps me going like a body builder from Punjab," he says, smiling.

"Whenever I go outdoors for my shoots I make sure I live only on fruits and juices. Even if I go to a foreign country, there's no food for me except fresh fruit and fresh fruit juice. I only eat at home," he tells you.

And there's no strenuous exercises for him. No, pumping of iron, no grunt work. Though he likes jogging and rappelling.

"See this rope... We have it so that I can work out on Sundays. Apart from this, I also go out trekking. But then climbing ropes is fun. All the guys in my building and I do it together and see who gets to the top faster."

Then, of course, he cycles, there are things like martial arts, cycling, jogging, the skateboard, and natural exercises like trekking. I don't want to build my muscles and look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, though I do like to exercise," he smiles.

Click for bigger pic!

Akshay has his own special exercises, ones he wouldn't like to divulge for the simple reason that they shouldn't be tried without an instructor. "Like I said, cycling, jogging... Even walking fast is an exercise that helps you stay fighting fit."

He may like being strong but Akki's no street fighter.

"I don't get into roadside brawls... True, martial arts are for self defence, but I haven't had to use it for self-defence."

As a child, he dreamt of becoming a martial arts teacher. But he actually signed up because he used to miss his best friend who also used to undergo training.

"Soon it became a passion. The discipline it teaches you, the intensity it develops in you is unmatchable. Nothing can inculcate so much determination and self-confidence in yourself as martial arts can."

But all his fitness didn't help him when, in a scene in Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi, he lifted a 350 pound WWF wrestler called Undertaker. The third take nearly broke his back.

"The pain was excruciating. I lifted him, and the very next moment I knew I was gone. Down and out. I have not lifted weights like this. I did it on sheer impulse. But it has been making me shuttle from here to the States. The pain is unbearable," he says.

Click for bigger pic!

Now, Akki admits that has affected his weight. "You know my weight today is 86 kilos. I haven't been able to exercise and that has pulled me back. When I was young, I was very thin and used to weigh not more than 50-odd kilos. But now my bones have also become pretty heavy," he smiles.

But such sturdiness was to be expected. His father was a wrestler at one time and grandpa too used to grapple a bit.

According to Akshay, a good physique is a must for any leading actor.

"Every hero needs to look perfect. He need not be an action man, he may well be the eternal romantic. But he needs some muscles that makes him look better that the rest of the men.

"If I look like Johnny Walker, how can you expect me to beat up a hundred villains? If I am lifting the Undertaker, people may believe I did the scene because I have that physical frame for it. If I break some iron bars, people may believe it. But if another hero, with a much weaker frame, does that, the people will dismiss it. They will no longer take trash from film-makers," says Akshay, saying he has one particularly exotic way of keeping fit.

"I go to Juhu beach, go (by boat) 10 kms into the sea and then start surfing. It is a place where there will be no one to disturb me. Then, if I want to swim, I always go to a five star hotel pool, and rush back before anyone can actually see and recognise me."