‘I’m a tiger in a cage’: Salman

He’s one cool rock star. He’s also the original six-pack guy. He began to take his shirt off and flaunt his washboard abs long before Dard-e-Disco made it fashionable all over again.

So, it’s no surprise when Salman Khan disdainfully trashes the current six-pack fad with, “Even a malnourished person or a mazdoor can have a six-pack. What is important is to have a good muscular body and then move on to get a six-pack! And a stronger mind is more important than a strong body. Training the mind is a lifelong pursuit and without a strong mind, you’ll lack the willpower to get a strong body.”

And it is this ‘strong’ body that women swoon over that one will get to see in Atul Agnihotri’s film Hello based on Chetan Bhagat’s book One Night @ The Call Centre . Yup. Salman’s given his shirt a miss for the dance number Party Like a Rockstar in the film. Says Chetan, “Salman’s playing himself in the film — an actor who is touring various places as a part of a concert series. This was a six days’ shooting schedule in Karjat and Salman stayed up and so did Katrina (who also makes an appearance in the film) to finish their scenes.”

But, what we really want to know is how does Salman manage to stay fit as a fiddle even as he’s on the other side of 40? And how does one find the time amidst today’s hectic lifestyle to gym it up? “I work 18 hours a day and can still find the time to hit the gym. It’s time management,” he says.

And how does it feel when people ooh and aah over his bare torso? “I feel like a tiger in a cage at the zoo. Every child who passes that cage tells his mother, ‘I want to look at the tiger, Mom’. But I also know that the day this fascination is over, it’s all really over then. So, I’m thankful that I’m in this zoo-cage-tiger situation,” says Salman.

But doesn’t he ever feel like relaxing, giving the gym a miss? “I work in a visual medium, I have to keep looking good. And I have to look as good as my fans want me to,” is Salman’s reply. Since his fitness level is several notches higher than most of his friends, does he ever encourage them to get fitter? “I keep telling them to stay fit. Sometimes they listen to me, at times they don’t. But the problem is that I love them as they are and they know that. I can’t be as strict with them as I am with myself,” says the actor.

Jaya Drona, TNN