“I don’t believe it when an actor claims he got 6 packs in 2 months” – Akshay Kumar

By Faridoon Shahryar -

August 10, 2015 - 12:43 PM IST

"There is no set in the industry where people don't crack non veg jokes. Just because Sidharth

mentioned about it in a making video, we had to face it," said Akshay Kumar in a Bollywood Hungama exclusive video

“I don’t believe it when an actor claims he got 6 packs in 2 months” – Akshay Kumar

interview with Faridoon Shahryar. Sidharth Malhotra reacted to this by stating laughingly, "Hats off to Akshay sir. He

makes the set very, very fun and easy. I thoroughly enjoyed all his jokes." The Brothers co stars also spoke about

their director Karan Malhotra and his unconventional ways of directing movies. Kumar shared his thoughts on Jackie Shroff

as well.

Who has been your inspiration for the roles that you have played in Brothers?
Akshay Kumar (AK): We've been inspired by our choreographers who came and choreographed the whole fight - Justin

Yu and Eric Brown. I became their huge fan and I really became their huge admirer. They are actually real MMA fighters

who fight in the rings.
Sidharth Malhotra (SM): I had seen reference videos of lot of international fighters like Georges St-Pierre,

Anderson Silva etc. They are all middle weight fighters although in the championship shown in Brothers doesn't

have any such classification.

Sidharth, you've trained so much and eaten so much of meat that now you've turned vegetarianâ€¦
SM: Karan Malhotra wanted me to gain 10 kilos just to match up Akshay sir's presence in action. And I had to do

in 3-4 months. So I ate a lot of meat. I had around 7 meals in a day. I had a company which was feeding me and making

food for me! And it tastes really good.
AK: Since he ate so much meat, we had to ban it!
SM: (Laughs) Exactly. I am glad the ban in Maharashtra happened now. But the intent was also to show that I

gained weight naturally without using any chemicals. And I like keeping things easy and natural. The result is showing

and the impact will be created once the film releases.

Lot of Non-veg jokes happened on the sets I believe and you guys were conversing only in Punjabiâ€¦
AK: There is no set in the industry where people don't crack non veg jokes. Just because Sidharth mentioned about

it in a making video, we had to face it!
SM: (Laughs) But hats off to Akshay sir. He makes the set very, very fun and easy. And this is a very tiring

film. If you don't have fun, you won't be able to survive or go through so many days. I thoroughly enjoyed all his jokes.

How was
it working with director Karan Malhotra who looks very innocent but unka emotion ekdum garajne waala hota hai and he has

a command over what works for a wide ranging audience?
AK: Yeah, he looks innocent and he thinks also in a very innocent way. But while shooting, he gets aggressive; he

opens up and makes everything look larger than life. His way of expressing things on screen is in a very large scale. As

Sidharth says, there's some kind of anger in him that comes out when he says 'Start Camera'.
SM: What he gets really well is the sense of heroism. He knows how to present his heroes. And he's very clear and

sharp. I've known him for assistant director days and hence I know how he interacts with his team.

Have you assisted along with him?
SM: I was in My Name Is Khan with him. He was the first AD.
AK: Karan was his boss.
SM: Yeah, he was my boss. And now it's payback time!

You have a long association with Jackie Shroff. How was it working with him in Brothers? As per the reports, he

has a very interesting role...
AK: He has one of the best roles in the film. It's an honour to work with a man who doesn't have any kind of

manipulative bone. He is very straight, simple who lives in his own world. He doesn't take stress and always has a smile.

I've not seen him in any other mood in fact. Actually, I make a lot of fun of him! I enjoying doing it and he also loves

it and takes it in a very sporting manner. Interestingly, he brings snacks to the set and not proper 'khaana'. Sidharth

and I used to bring dal, chawal, rajma, aloo, gobhi etc. Jacqueline also used to bring rice, fish etc. Ye khaana hota

hai. Jackie Shroff used to bring dhokla, farsan, shrikhand etc! I used to ask him, "Dada, khaana kidhar hai? Ye toh

snacks hua. Khaana kidhar hai?" Ultimately, he used to eat our food!

Akshay, you are known to send 'I Love You' messages from other people's mobile phones. So have you got into serious

trouble for doing so?
AK: Not at all. They just send a message "You know Akshay sent it". But once I took a producer's mobile phone and

messaged a fight master, "I saw your fight in so-and-so film. It's all shit. You don't know anything". The fight master

got so angry that he came to hit him!

Sidharth, what's the worst rumour you've heard about yourself?
SM: That I am Manish Malhotra's nephew. That keeps coming up. Somebody recently asked me, "Manish kaise hai?" I

was like how would I know! I really find it weird that people confuse me with Punit Malhotra, who is Manish's

nephew

What is your first reaction when an actor claims that he got six packs in a couple of months?
AK: I don't believe it. I will believe if he got through honest ways and not by taking supplements. It takes

quite a while to get six packs.