A 9 am interview is 'late' for Akshay Kumar. The actor, speaking to us in what we thought was an 'early' meeting, expressed great surprise at people's reactions to his 4 am mornings.“I sometimes don't understand why people here get so shocked,“ he said, after mentioning that he'd scheduled shoots and meetings at 4.30 am! But the discipline and rigour of his physical schedule shows in films like his forthcoming Baby, which he spoke to us about.

An early interview like this is first-hand experience of your famously early mornings. We've heard you call meetings even at 6am.
4.30 - I've called meetings at 4.30 am.

And people turn up for those?
Of course, sab aate hain. I have done photo shoots etc at 4 or 4.30 am. I sometimes don't understand why people here get so shocked. I have never understood this idea. Agar aap dekho, abroad, people have woken up and at 6.30 in the morning, there are cars zooming on the roads, that means they have woken up at 5. Humare yahan 6 am, ekdum khali sunsaan rehta hai sab, 9 baje traffic shuru hota hai. Why do we say, 'Oh my God, 4 baje? 4.30 baje? 5 baje?' Humare toh shastron mein likha hai ki 4 baje uthna chahiye. Humko toh so jaana chahiye jaldi. As boring as I might sound, but that's what it is, the reality of life.

It's just that everybody's lives, and not just in your industry, are inevitably about late mornings.
I fail to understand... people say, 4.30 kya karenge yaar hum log, 4.30 toh hum sone jaate hain. I know a lot of people, 9.30-10 baje uthte hain. Kitni baar hota hai ki main subah (kaam pe) jaa raha hota hoon, and many actors wave at me on their way back (home). Woh tab sone jaa rahe hote hain.

From Neeraj Pandey, the director of A Wednesday, people usually expect something different or some twist in his films. What is the unique thing about Baby?
He is referring to something nobody has ever referred to before. You must have seen films on Armymen, Navy and Air Force before, the police, BSF and when they do something commendable, they are given medals, money, certificates, honours like Paramvir Chakras - they are all recognised. But have you ever thought of spies? They are not allowed to say that they are working for the government. So, if they are ever caught, they can never reveal their identity, the country will never call them its own. These are the people who operate outside the country, because the base of terrorism is outside. These spies bahar jaake unko unke ghar pe maarte hain ya khud marr jaate hain. This film is about those unknown heroes. The news of their death can't be mentioned in the papers either. They are completely selfless, the only thing they care about is their country. I was thinking, why has nobody made a film on such people? That's the USP of Baby - it's about those unknown people whom nobody cares about. I have some scenes which show the relationship I have with my wife, where I always tell her, 'Main conference mein hoon.' She knows that his job is not what he says it is, so she says, 'Jo bhi kar rahe ho, bas marna mat.' That is my favourite line from the film, and it is something that the wife of such an operative had actually told her husband in real life.

You'd hardly expect a film like this to be called Baby.
This group of 24 people, in the film, was constituted on a trial basis. They don't report to anybody, only the high command knows about them. Lekin agar pakde gaye, toh woh (high command) na inko jaante hain, na yeh unko. Iss group ka naam tha Baby, because it was newly formed on a trial basis, it was like a baby.

You did Special 26 with Neeraj Pandey, and now, this film. Is the director another reason you said yes to the film?
That is also one of the reasons why I agreed to do the film. I am very comfortable working with him and he is a great director. Film ke andar aapko ek bhi scene copied nahin milega, ki humne yeh kisi DVD mein kahin dekha tha. Uska kaam hi yeh hai ki woh subah uthke 3.30 ghante newspaper padhta hai, aur usmein se cheezein nikaalta hai. I asked him one day, and he said scripts akhbaron mein hoti hain. So, all the incidents that you are going to watch in the film have actually happened somewhere.

Terrorism wasn't so common a word earlier, maybe at a time when people of your age were growing up. Do you remember growing up in an atmosphere when a violent terrorist event was a daily occurrence?
We didn't. We probably were introduced to it (terrorism) after the Punjab riots of 1984.

Tell us more about a spy's life - what excited you about playing a spy?
Uska koi darja hi nahi hota hai, he is nowhere. He cannot own anything. This spy is not the kind who only gets information, he has to act also. They behave like normal people, but they cannot reveal their real identity, even to their family. If you go into their minds, you don't know what might be there.

How did you, a well-known actor whose public identity is so overwhelming, approach this character, a man who has no claim to any identity?
I just follow the director. This is very hard for me (otherwise) to follow. He (Neeraj) won't own up to it, but I think he has met a real spy, somebody retired, maybe.

Is there a person you would like to show the film to, for sure?
The person I would like to show this film to, and a person who keeps talking about terrorism, would be our Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. He is the right person to see it. Aap pichhle 14 dino ka newspaper mangwa lo, half of the front page news is only about terrorism. Blasts, people dying, yeh ISIS ka pakda gaya, etc. The biggest problem in the world is terrorism, besides poverty, and baaki sab, jo hai hi. Mr Modi talks about it a lot, Barack Obama, who is coming here, talks about it. When the two meet, they are going to talk about terrorism the most that is going to be the biggest mudda.

Have you met Mr Modi?
Yes, I have. He is a great man. He is a man with a vision, a man who does a lot and does it quickly. I have heard so many things. Paresh Rawal (an MP from Gujarat) is a dear friend of mine, and he is very close to Modi sahab. He tells me stories about him, like how everybody has to get up at 6 am and start working. Here is a man who tells everybody to get up and start working. He calls up people and says, today we are going to finish certain things. There is work happening. I think by 2019, you'll see a lot of changes in India. I meet a lot of people who know him and many other ministers. At the moment, things are going at a proper speed. They have to put everything on track.

Would you ever like to join politics?
If I ever do, it would be related to only sports and health, because I don't know anything else.