‘NOSCIENCE TOHOWI FUNCTION’

As actor Akshay Kumar readies for five releases in 2019, we catch up with him to decode his time management skills

Be it his impeccable film choices, steady success rate or fit-as-a-fiddle avatar, Akshay Kumar seems to have it all sorted. And one thing that unfailingly comes up in conversations with him, is his perfect time management that enables him to do three to four films a year. But the superstar — who has five big releases in 2019 — plays it down. “Honestly, there’s no science to how I function. It’s very simple,” says the actor, who is excited about “mixing up” his film choices as he “constantly want to do something fresh.” We caught up with Akshay to understand how he manages to pack in (so many) things within 365 days. Excerpts from an interview:

To start with, how do you manage to do so many films and also balance your personal life? Others from the film industry clearly can’t do that!

It’s very simple. I will tell you the mathematics of it all. To start with, I must tell you that I am off the entire June and that’s one whole month. So, I am left with only 11 months. And after every film, I take six days off. On top of that, I only work half days on Saturdays and don’t work at all on Sundays. Usmein bhi I don’t give more than eight hours to any producer. Even if you invest 45 days in a film, how much time will four films take? 180 days. So, out of 365 days, if you work for roughly 180 days, you will easily finish four films in a year.

The number of shooting days must also have an effect on a film’s budget. Right?

Yes, otherwise how do so many films become overtly expensive? One can easily make a good film with ₹25-35 crore budget. I don’t know where things are going wrong. Now, budgets go up to ₹80, ₹90 and even over ₹100 crore sometimes. But yes, if a film genuinely needs such a high budget, like 2.0 (2018), then there’s no problem. You can see that investment on screen.

Also, your habit of waking up very early in the morning — and even having meetings/narrations in the mornings — has become a thing of legends by now…

Did you go to the school in the night? So, the habit [of waking up early in the morning] has undergone a change because of an individual’s choice. Our parents and teachers taught us the correct thing but we have ruined that habit. Kaam din

mein hota hai. Raat ko ullu jaagtein hain. This [waking up early] is what our shastras teach us. It’s written in our shastras — wake up early, work in the day time, have dinner before sunset and sleep on time.

Clearly, you are part of a very rare club…

A lot of times, people ask me, ‘you wake up so early’. I think I should be asking them instead, ‘you sleep so late in the night’. So many people wake up early. If you wake up at 4.30am or 5am, you will notice so many people going for their work. I feel jinko mitti ki khushboo acchi lagti hai aur jinhein paison ki ahamiyat samajh mein aati hai woh utthte hain jaldi subah.

I am off the entire June and after every film, I take six days off. On top of that, I only work half days on Saturdays and don’t work at all on Sundays. Usmein bhi I don’t give more than 8 hours to any producer.

AKSHAY KUMAR, ACTOR