Secret Formula!

LOCATION – DHARMA PRODUCTIONS OFFICE
I sit across my close friend and filmmaker Karan Johar as we discuss the dialogue of his forthcoming, `Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'. In the last decade, Karan Johar has redefined multitasking. Despite several of us (his friends) making fun of him for being 'everywhere' Karan has managed to produce films, write his own, endorse products, judge many reality shows, host weddings and chat shows, strategise the working of his company and also attend all his friends' birthday/anniversary celebrations…! As I run through the scenes with him he keeps tabs on 'Brothers'' collections, Shakun Batra's forthcoming edit, some location issues in London and even selects a present for someone's birthday. All of this with full focus words or lines that needs sharpening!

LOCATION – HYATT REGENCY
The shooting of Dilwale is in progress. A ravishing Kajol is in the middle of a shot. As she begins her lines, a shrill ring of a cell phone pierces through the surrounding silence. But Kajol continues to say her lines and the shot is canned. Had it been any other actor the shot would have been cut. "It is distracting but after having been an actor for so long the least one can do is focus on what needs to be finished!" she says nonchalantly. And Kajol always does that – focuses on what needs to be done! That's why she can manage to look as gorgeous, run the lives of her two kids with the precision of an army commander, go on a holiday with her husband, stay nights with her mother in the hospital, take her mother-in-law for doctor's visits…! All of this without losing focus on her craft or her performances!

LOCATION – HYATT REGENCY
When I met Shah Rukh Khan two decades ago, he was sipping black coffee and was in the midst of shooting for three films. We have come a full circle today as he sits opposite me sipping his black coffee and in the midst of shooting for three films! I ask him how it feels to juggle multiple films after so long. "I have decided I'm going to do three films a year for the next five!" he replies. What about your health? I question. "The aches and pains are there even otherwise… I keep injuring myself anyway… Might as well do it for movies!" Shah Rukh engages with everything he encounters. He finds time to oversee his company's working, plan his trip to visit his daughter Suhana in London, discuss his upcoming song with Farah Khan and even ask me about my progress in classical vocals! All of this without losing a second's attention on what he does best – Acting!

There's a theory that if you practise anything for 10,000 hours you master it. I don't know whether Karan, Kajol and Shah Rukh have multitasked for 10,000 hours to master it but I think passion is the fire that keeps their creative urges burning!