The fight to act

Not just leading men, Bollywood’s character actors too must go over and above to meet its physical demands. Two stars on their distinct fitness journeys

‘Being praised for your looks is intoxicating’

Anupam Kher, 66
A popular notion in the fitness community is that if you wish to know whether or not a person practices CrossFit, you need not do much. Why? Because a person who practices CrossFit will brag about doing so anyway, at every afforded opportunity. Anupam Kher seems to be in the midst of a similar phase in his life. He speaks about fitness with child-like enthusiasm, admitting that having dedicatedly taken to it only six years ago, he considers being the muse of a fitness-related interview, a “cheap thrill”. Out and about with his “young friends” like Varun Dhawan and Aditya Roy Kapur, his relatively newly acquired interest makes him “contemporary”, and now an active participant in conversations about training. Ever-so-often, he finds joy in asking his colleagues to “touch my biceps” to monitor his progress, or notice his shirts becoming tighter.

Unlike the array of actors bagging negative roles in Bollywood, Kher says his formative years were not defined by the need to look bulky. “[Anti-heroes] like my character, Dr Dang [Karma], were [cerebral]. They had to look like normal human beings. Also, the other negative characters that I played were of the kind that didn’t require me to gain weight. I was usually the mama or taya of another character. Also, what worked to my advantage was that I started my career playing characters that were older than I was at the time. I played a 65-year-old when I was 28, played Hema Malini’s father, and grandfather to Rishi [Kapoor] and Anil [Kapoor]. That was an advantage. Because, as years passed, people didn’t see me as a [young man growing old].”

At his heaviest at 94 kilos six years ago, Kher realised he had been looking fuller, and decided to train his focus on a fitness routine. After a fair share of trial and error — involving walking excessively to clock 10,000 steps, then 15,000 and subsequently, 20,000, on his fitness tracker — and ending up with a knee injury, he sought professional help. An amalgamation of walking, yoga practice and weight-training helped him knock off 11 kilos. “At parties, people praised me for the way I looked. That is intoxicating. Being fit has made me approach my roles with a different attitude. Sharing posts on Instagram implies that by making my journey accessible to the public, I am more inclined to stick to my routine. No one will want to see me [out of shape] again.”

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Kher talks about his love for food and sweets with adulation. “What’s a Gujarati thaali without aamras, or roti without ghee?” he asks, pulling up a piece of chocolate and stating that should he give into his temptation, this would be his second indulgence in the day. “But, I am generally disciplined. I don’t like to drink, and don’t smoke. I think walking is an amazing exercise. When I was in New York, I loved to walk. I also prefer walking in hill stations.” 

Kher on his diet

I begin the day with: Water and saffron that has been stored overnight in a copper vessel. I follow it up with soaked almonds and walnuts.

My preferred choice of breakfast: Poha or one paratha. In the day, I also consume coconut water. 

Eating pattern I prefer: I eat every two hours. I cannot take to a format like intermittent fasting, where all that you think about for 24 hours is food. 

Foods I enjoy: I prefer eating rice over roti, as has been recommended to me. I enjoy Gujarati and Bengali food.

‘Bollywood is no place for normal people’

Sharat Saxena, 71
Bear in mind his age when glancing at pictures of him toiling away at the gym, and his relentless tryst to defy it becomes apparent. Sitting across the screen as part of a video-interview, Sharat Saxena looks the part when he says he must appear 45, despite being 71, to continue being appreciated in Bollywood. The Sherni actor’s brush with body-building traces back to his arrival in Mumbai to pursue his dreams of being a hero. Only 69 kilos then, he was still referred to as a “body builder, because the state of body-building in India back then was so bleak that anyone with a small bump of muscle fell into that category”. 

Also Read: Fitness trainer Sahil Rasheed on Shweta Tiwari: She was lean, not fit

With bulky-bodied men being easily stereotyped in the 70s and 80s, Saxena knew his chances of being cast as hero were slim. To find work as the antagonist, building his frame became an inevitable requirement, because “heroes only wanted to beat up people who looked tough”.  In the absence of professional help, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia Of Modern Bodybuilding became his bible, as he’d train with weights at his PG accommodation, coupling his routine with running sessions at Bandstand. A boxing workshop with Mithun Chakraborthy as part of prep-work for a film, served as a turning point in his fitness journey. It opened his mind to training differently, and readying himself for stunts. 

“We didn’t have the luxury of having duplicates for our stunts. I was expected to do mine because of how I was built. I ended up in the hospital 13 times. We also didn’t have things like protein shakes or steroids. I’ve built my body on dal, roti, sabzi. For the first nine years of my journey, I’d eat in hotels, where I’d tell the cooks to make one roti of the four regular ones that they’d serve, and I’d have four such rotis. Eggs, bread, cheese [were our staple].” 

A lifetime has been spent following athletic routines based on old-school practices, but, unlike his peers, Saxena isn’t one to demean new-age techniques that have refined the sport of body-building. “It is owing to these techniques that people can now become very big, very fast. In our days, builders were not so big. However, had they been this size, work for them would have been limited.” 

Saxena doesn’t flinch when admitting that industry pressures are factors that continue to determine his routine. “There’s no work” for a man with a belly, because this industry is full of freaks. “We are freakishly handsome, freakishly ugly, freakishly skinny, or freakishly fat. The industry is not a place for normal people. You had to be in shape to find work.” But, like his mind, his body too has become resilient while adapting to meet demands. “When I was young, a 20-minute workout session would have me puking. Today, I train for two hours and still feel great. Older hearts are athletic. Like a muscle that has been nourished for years, the heart too works efficiently when it has been consistently trained.” 

However, age hasn’t always been gracious. He often negotiates with himself as he prepares his body to undergo the “stress of working out.” “As you grow old, you have to work harder to maintain muscle size. I didn’t have to train as much as I do today, 20 years ago. Also the shoulder muscles of the elderly deplete easily. I have to train them [more often]. If you don’t have big shoulders, the body’s shape is not appealing. To beat competition, I have to look like 45 despite being 71.” 

02
Number of hours Saxena trains daily

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