Discipline is something the youth requires today
A glimpse into Khiladi Kumar's philosophy of life when the actor paid us a visit on Children's Day
Akshay Kumar is punctual. So punctual that he actually arrives 10 minutes before time. I only know superstar Amitabh Bachchan to be so correct in respecting other people's time, and it is a refreshing rarity in B-Town, this attention to detail. Or should I say discipline.
The man known as Khiladi Kumar is wearing shades, and he doesn't remove them.
"I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything," he clarifies to After Hrs at the very beginning, in Hindi. "I'm wearing shades because I woke up at 6.30 in the morning (having slept at 3am). Today being Children's Day, my son wanted me to drop him to school."
This is his first visit to the After Hrs office, but he seems to be at ease. In course of conversation he touches upon many aspects — his profession, of course, but also ideology (he is very partial to sport, the importance of sport, even goes so far as to make a request to devote more articles to sport), home and hearth ('I would rate myself pretty high as a family man'), and then, civic issues: "I had gone to Indore yesterday for a film promotion. It is sad that roads in Indore are ten times better than ours. I seriously don't understand why we don't build good roads in such a big city like ours."
Ever practical, Akshay has tackled the traffic bug bear by resorting to travelling on motorbike, on occasion — his security guard's. "Believe me, I save two-three hours a day, and that whole time goes to my family," he lets on.
In fact, family is very important, he makes sure to balance out work so there is family time: "I can blend both the things very well. I always check my son's annual calendar and accordingly in June I take one month off when I don't work at all. In July if I have shooting he still has his holidays. So I do all outdoor shootings then, so that I can take him along with me. I have to work according to his calendar. Then my wife and I, after every three months, take seven days holiday every year and we travel outside. Plus I don't do shooting on Sundays. Sundays I mostly stay at home. And even on Saturdays I do a morning shift of seven to two pm. So what happens is after two pm you have the whole Saturday, then the whole Sunday and you start working again on Monday morning."
During downtime, Akshay says he doesn't read much but he enjoys cooking — for his wife, mother-in-law, the whole family. And then there's that partiality to sport: "I believe everything that I have is because of sports, especially martial arts. I want martial arts to become compulsory in every school because discipline is something the youth requires today. And I am trying for that. Like in China, Singapore, Malaysia, martial arts or three years army training be it boy or girl is compulsory. I think it's important, even for India. Like, when I was in Thailand somebody was telling me that they have one soldier in every house…"
I dance like Jane Fonda
Today is Children's Day and you have tweeted about it. So, are you planning to do anything special for your son?
Actually, I had slept around 3 in the morning. But he woke me up around 6.30, asking me to drop him to school, since it's Children's Day. You know what he told me about the real meaning of the day? He said Children's Day means it is his half birthday. So I was a little confused about it...he then explained that on Children's Day he can do anything in school. So, according to him Children's Day means half birthday.
Do you choose films keeping in mind what your son will think or whether he will get embarrassed 20 years from now?
Doesn't matter how many films a person does, after 20 years he will feel ashamed only (laughs). If you see veteran actors like Rishi Kapoor saab and all, if you sit with them and talk about their films like 'Sir aapke woh film'...they will always react like leave it no, it's a very old thing. If any of mine old films are coming on TV, I still sit with my son and watch them, my wife just switches off, she never watches her own old films.
You have been called a Khiladi. Do you enjoy the term?
Yeah, why not? It's like calling you a player. To be called a khiladi is a great tag to be attached to.
You are one of the good dancers among our Bollywood heroes.
Would you call me a good dancer? I look like an aerobics teacher during the dance routine. If you see Jane Fonda's aerobics, you will see that she is dancing the same way I am.
Do we see you doing a superhero film?
No, I don't think so. That's probably because I first have to be a good hero, so I don't think I am ready yet.
A glimpse into Khiladi Kumar's philosophy of life when the actor paid us a visit on Children's Day
Akshay Kumar is punctual. So punctual that he actually arrives 10 minutes before time. I only know superstar Amitabh Bachchan to be so correct in respecting other people's time, and it is a refreshing rarity in B-Town, this attention to detail. Or should I say discipline.
The man known as Khiladi Kumar is wearing shades, and he doesn't remove them.
"I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything," he clarifies to After Hrs at the very beginning, in Hindi. "I'm wearing shades because I woke up at 6.30 in the morning (having slept at 3am). Today being Children's Day, my son wanted me to drop him to school."
This is his first visit to the After Hrs office, but he seems to be at ease. In course of conversation he touches upon many aspects — his profession, of course, but also ideology (he is very partial to sport, the importance of sport, even goes so far as to make a request to devote more articles to sport), home and hearth ('I would rate myself pretty high as a family man'), and then, civic issues: "I had gone to Indore yesterday for a film promotion. It is sad that roads in Indore are ten times better than ours. I seriously don't understand why we don't build good roads in such a big city like ours."
Ever practical, Akshay has tackled the traffic bug bear by resorting to travelling on motorbike, on occasion — his security guard's. "Believe me, I save two-three hours a day, and that whole time goes to my family," he lets on.
In fact, family is very important, he makes sure to balance out work so there is family time: "I can blend both the things very well. I always check my son's annual calendar and accordingly in June I take one month off when I don't work at all. In July if I have shooting he still has his holidays. So I do all outdoor shootings then, so that I can take him along with me. I have to work according to his calendar. Then my wife and I, after every three months, take seven days holiday every year and we travel outside. Plus I don't do shooting on Sundays. Sundays I mostly stay at home. And even on Saturdays I do a morning shift of seven to two pm. So what happens is after two pm you have the whole Saturday, then the whole Sunday and you start working again on Monday morning."
During downtime, Akshay says he doesn't read much but he enjoys cooking — for his wife, mother-in-law, the whole family. And then there's that partiality to sport: "I believe everything that I have is because of sports, especially martial arts. I want martial arts to become compulsory in every school because discipline is something the youth requires today. And I am trying for that. Like in China, Singapore, Malaysia, martial arts or three years army training be it boy or girl is compulsory. I think it's important, even for India. Like, when I was in Thailand somebody was telling me that they have one soldier in every house…"
I dance like Jane Fonda
Today is Children's Day and you have tweeted about it. So, are you planning to do anything special for your son?
Actually, I had slept around 3 in the morning. But he woke me up around 6.30, asking me to drop him to school, since it's Children's Day. You know what he told me about the real meaning of the day? He said Children's Day means it is his half birthday. So I was a little confused about it...he then explained that on Children's Day he can do anything in school. So, according to him Children's Day means half birthday.
Do you choose films keeping in mind what your son will think or whether he will get embarrassed 20 years from now?
Doesn't matter how many films a person does, after 20 years he will feel ashamed only (laughs). If you see veteran actors like Rishi Kapoor saab and all, if you sit with them and talk about their films like 'Sir aapke woh film'...they will always react like leave it no, it's a very old thing. If any of mine old films are coming on TV, I still sit with my son and watch them, my wife just switches off, she never watches her own old films.
You have been called a Khiladi. Do you enjoy the term?
Yeah, why not? It's like calling you a player. To be called a khiladi is a great tag to be attached to.
You are one of the good dancers among our Bollywood heroes.
Would you call me a good dancer? I look like an aerobics teacher during the dance routine. If you see Jane Fonda's aerobics, you will see that she is dancing the same way I am.
Do we see you doing a superhero film?
No, I don't think so. That's probably because I first have to be a good hero, so I don't think I am ready yet.
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