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September 8, 1998

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Sinews of steel

V S Srinivasan

Sunil Shetty. Click for bigger pic!

Sunil Shetty's success has been proportional to the rate at which his torso expanded. But while his flex appeal still grows, he's shifted gears, opting now for more muted roles.

But he cannot deny that it was his sinew of steel that has brought him to where he is today. And that others have trailed down the path he blazed.

We wanted to find out how the man managed to look the way he does. And we discovered that without understanding his fetish for fitness, you couldn't understand him better. And what better place to do that than his gym, in his own building in downtown Bombay?

"A healthy body breeds a healthy mind," he tells you sententiously, as he warms up. "I built these muscles to get into the industry. And, ultimately, it was indeed these muscles and this body which got me there."

Work day workouts

"My normal working day can only be called normal when I'm in Bombay and not shooting elsewhere.
"You can't wake up early and pump iron during an outdoors shoot. There, you are shooting the whole day. When in Bombay though, I begin my day with a bit of jogging before going on to the exercises.
"I get ready and have breakfast. Meat doesn't figure on my menu card though.
"Then I scoot off to my shoot. It often gets very strenuous for people like me because we have a lot of action scenes. Umpteen takes and retakes makes life more difficult for us, especially when you have keep on fighting. But the workouts in the morning help me keep going. It builds the momentum in you.
"Only after the shoot, at home, do I realise how tired I am. But then I have to spend some time with the family before having dinner and going to bed."

And then Sunil gets back to warming up, warming up being a misnomer -- the sweat pours off his back in streams as he does those interminable stretches and a spot of spot-jogging. Then he flaps his hands and legs, loosening up in the most strenuous way possible.

For Sunil, this is simply routine exercise. And despite the profusion of sweat, it isn't very tiring for him. After a while, it all begins to look deceptively easy.

He moves to the weights and is soon pumping energetically away. But he still looks up and begins conversationally. "Whenever a man without muscles does those stunts -- like breaking iron bars and all that -- it doesn't seem real. But when a muscleman goes about this job, one can actually believe it.

"People can even believe that a muscular man like me can actually pick up a car and fling it. If there's that bit of reality in these things, then people can actually accept a man as powerful."

Click for bigger pic!

Sunil has taken pains to build up his body to provide the audiences with plenty of beef on celluloid. And, contrary to expectation, they worked. And the result is that the action man is never at complete ease, except when he is working out at the gym.

"Action is what sells today," he says. "An action film is a safe bet anywhere. People like to see it and the rawer it is the more it is appreciated. See the case of Anth or Rakshak. The raw action (read, violence) helped the films a great deal. Good action dares evil at the highest level."

And wasn't the stuff he did often very graphic? There were scenes of him killing policemen, chasing a man down the street and killing him in cold blood... Did that give him the licence to kill?

Click for bigger pic!

Sunil, still exercising, looks up, unfazed.

"What shown in the movie is the triumph of good over evil. Whenever evil is destroyed people are happy. Then what's wrong in depicting positive violence?" That's a new term for us -- positive violence.

Sunil prefers to spend time talking about the importance of a good physique.

"It enhances the personality of a man. The structure of a person should enamour the audience so as to convince them. A person with a robust personality appears capable of doing anything. This is what the common man lacks. This is the dividing factor, the difference between the hero and the common man.

"I don't say a hero is superhuman. He too is a common man but who one does uncommon things. It gives the person watching it a different feeling; it motivates him to higher pursuits."

Click for bigger pic!

As we said, he entered films due to his muscle-bound frame. "The film was Balwaan. Naturally, the person doing the role had to be someone strong. It was tailor-made for me and I jumped headlong into celluloid." The flak batteries were quick to come after him but Sunil doesn't mention them.

"The action part of me, coupled with the solidity of my brawn, gave me a slight edge over the other heroes. I have achieved a lot in a very short span, but at the same time I've also gone through the grind. I saw a lot of rubbish then. Before success one has to taste many bitter things and digest them too," Sunil says ruminatively before jerking up the dumbbells again.

You can see he likes this two-hour workout every morning.

"Even today I make it a point to exercise every time I get the time in the mornings. I only take an off on Sunday. Earlier, I'd a gymnasium of my own. But ever since they started a gymnasium in my building I closed down the one at home. I prefer working out with the others.

Click for bigger pic!

"I give special treatment to every single muscle in my body. I start with warming up exercises -- like dips, squats, pull-ups and the parallel bar. Then on with the bench press and dumbbells. I exercise my chest and my legs. Later, I move on to my shoulder and triceps, for which I use the back press and the front press. Then come the activity for my thighs, and later for my biceps. For the abdomen, I prefer stretching. Totally, I go through nine different exercises, and that's excluding cycling."

For those who seek a body like his, Sunil has a few tips.

"When anybody joins a gymnasium, they should initially start off with basic exercises. Only after two months should they start doing weights. Anyone can put on a body, provided he works methodically.

"This also helps one in his day-to-day life because anyone with a good personality gets more confident.... I'm very confident while facing them. A good physique makes you more calm, composed and confident. I always admire a person with a good physique. I prefer talking to them," he says. And you look down at yourself doubtfully.

Click for bigger pic!

The man thus manages to keep trouble at bay. "Since I'm in the hotel business, I see a lot of police and customs people trooping into my hotel. They also talk about physique a lot. I'm very comfortable with them."

And then he owns a bar. And a bar without brawls, one knows, is like heaven without angels. That's where he gets to see more muscle than he can endure.

"Unfortunately, I have treated some people the wrong way. I've realised my mistake and handle situations more peacefully now," he says, before dismissing the unpleasant thought with a wave of his massive arms.

And then he lies back, adjusts the position of his back, and gets down to some very serious crunching.

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