HRITHIK ROSHAN is a down-to-earth guy. And I�ve just discovered the most ordinary thing he does. On days when he breaks off early from a shoot, he calls up McDonald�s on Linking Road, Bandra, and orders a burger. �Hi, I�m Hrithik,� he tells them casually. �Can you do me a burger without mayonnaise, without cheese, without butter... just meat, lettuce and tomatoes?�

There is no question that McDonald�s can do this for him. They probably call it the Hrithik Roshan Burger, he�s ordered it so many times. �I pick it up myself on the way home,� Bollywood�s hottest property tells me nonchalantly. Seeing my look of disbelief, he is about to cross his heart. �Really, I duck behind the driver�s seat (that�s a Merc he�s talking about), grab my parcel, and just take off.�

I�m not surprised, actually, that the most sought after man in India could dare to make an appearance in a public place where crazy fans might tear him apart. Because, Hrithik Roshan tells me he is a big foodie. And foodies are known to go far for their favourite foods. Now he says with those Kaho Na Pyar Hai eyes twinkling, �I love food, and I don�t mind saying that I live to eat.�

I am at the Roshan residence to find out about health foods and things like that. And whether Bollywood�s muscle man, like Hollywood�s Sylvester Stallone, supplements his diet with 66 tablets of vitamins, proteins and minerals. Instead, Hrithik tells me about his voracious appetite. And how, when he visited Nairobi, he tasted everything in a restaurant called �Carnivore� from octopus and ostrich to zebra and alligator!

Seeing my surprise, he says hastily: �Actually, the meal was absolutely mental torture for me. I tried everything for the sake of eating unusual foods, but just couldn�t go on. And Dad had ordered the food! He orders the most crazy stuff on the menu, anyway. Even such things like duck and frogs� legs. You should see Dad eat! He can eat any and everything under the sun!�

Amazed, I turn to look at �Dad�, who is sitting with us and drinking black tea. Rakesh Roshan does not seem embarrassed to be set up as an authority on crazy foods. I figure he is a bigger foodie than his son. Now he rubs his bald pate and admits with a slow smile, �True, I can, and have, eaten everything... but not monkey�s brains and dog!� Hrithik gives me a triumphant and knowing look.

We are sitting in their den at �Kavita�, on the 11th Road of the posh JVPD Scheme. The Roshans live in modest comfort by Bollywood standards. Their home lacks the glitz and glamour I have seen in far lesser-known stars� residences. May be all this will change after Hrithik�s second film in October. May be it won�t. I hope that in his meteoric rise Hrithik does not lose his earnest, boy-next-door kind of appeal.

It is the first day of the Bombay monsoon, and the monsoon is giving a good account of itself. We watch rain snakes slithering down the glass windows. Hrithik, I think, is not shooting today. For he stretches luxuriously and says, �Man, this is the day to stay at home!

He is dressed casually. In black slacks, cut-out T-shirt and sandals, all his muscles rippling. Even at spitting distance, he is quite a dreamboat of a guy. Six feet and blessed with Mel Gibson�s casual good looks. Eat your hearts out, Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan!We are back to talking about food, and Hrithik tells me that while he loves all kind of foods, he is particularly fond of Indian, Chinese and Italian cuisines.

Indian food, I cannot stay without,� he says passionately. �When I am travelling, after five or six days, I start missing the flavours of our curries, I start craving for our spices and masalas in everything I eat. I must have an Indian meal at least once a week. My body needs it.� His body also needs a high-protein, high-carbohydrate drink called Myoplex. Is it an upper, I ask Hrithik innocently. He looks at me in wonder.

No,� he replies. �It supplies me with 40 gms of protein and 30 gms of carbohydrate, which is what my muscles want after a workout.� He is very knowledgeable about health foods and will not pop anything unless he knows what it is meant for. �I also take the vitamin pill Megamen twice a day. And Joint Fuel. Know what�s that? It is a combination of gluosamine and chondroitin. Never mind, never mind! I take it because it gives my joints stability.�

To hear him talk, you would not think that Hrithik has one of the most envied bodies in show biz today. He promptly disagrees with me. �I�ve got the worst body in the world,� he claims seriously. What�s wrong with it, I challenge.

It�s not proportionate. There�s not enough muscle. You should have seen me three years ago. I was real scrawny. I had this weak foundation and was structurally in bad shape. I looked strange, man! Big paunch, chubby cheeks, puny arms and fat sides! But I�ve come a long way. And I�ve got a long way to go.�In his opinion, the actor with the most perfect physique is Sylvester Stallone. �The most proportionate,� he says.

But then, Stallone is a package deal. He�s lean and normal, but big and brawny too. The way he walks, the way he talks, the way he carries himself! You said he takes 66 pills a day to look like that? Must find out what he takes!� And after Stallone, to my surprise, Hrithik names Salman Khan as the actor who he admires for his body. Why, I ask. �Because... very obviously,� he stutters, not knowing what explanation to give.

There�s no comparison between Salman and me,� he mutters softly.He describes his workouts to me. They are done in the privacy of Dinesh Khanna�s The Club or Uday Chopra�s gym at home, so that nobody might see what Hrithik Roshan does to look like a million dollars. And he works out late in the evening, when his shooting for the day is through. If he can squeeze in 15 minutes of aerobics in the morning as a warm-up for the day, Hrithik does. This is spent on the treadmill. Or he does aerobics after his evening�s workout.

His workouts are varied. �They are never the same,� he says. �I�m very instinctive. I don�t restrict myself to sets. All I need is an hour or so. From 11.30 p.m. to 12.45 a.m. I sleep by 1.30 and wake up at 8.30 o�clock. I know it�s not the right thing to do if I want to bulk up. Because when you sleep, your growth hormones are released. I guess I have not grown for one year!� He pumps iron five days a week. Day One: biceps and triceps. Day Two: legs. Day Three: shoulders and chest. Day Four: shoulders only. Day Five: chest and back. Days Six and Seven, he takes a break from working out and feasts!

What else do you want to know about food,� he asks me now. �What I eat? Breakfast is five egg whites, one yolk, two slices of bread - toasted, a glass of Myoplex. Lunch is one roti, dal, rice, potatoes, two egg whites. Dinner... I don�t have. Unless I am eating out. Then it�s Chinese pepper prawns at Sampan.

Or the spicy chicken curry. But I have a very high metabolism rate. That means I burn up what I eat very quickly. I must have at least six small meals a day as a consequence. I eat something every two hours. Its usually mixed fruit or salads. You know... an apple. I�m also a big guy for salads. Can live on them.�Does the hero drink and smoke, I ask, hoping he will answer in the negative and not break the hearts of millions of children who idolise him.

Actually, I do,� says Hrithik Roshan disappointingly. �But only on occasions. I drink red wine... because it�s good for the heart. And I smoke... also on occasions. It�s like going out for pizza,� he says confusing me. What is, I ask. �Drinking and smoking,� Hrithik replies patiently. Why, I press for an answer. �Because I go out for pizza rarely. Maybe once a month. Get it?� Got it!

As I leave, I ask him to autograph a publicity still of his for my young nephew and neice. Hrithik�s lean, unshaved face lights up. I figure that�s because this is the first autograph he is signing that day. �They�re your biggest fans,� I say by way of explanation for the autograph. �What�re their names, how old are they,� he asks curiously. I tell him.

Meticulously, he writes out a message now to Zeeshan and Zahra. I peer over his huge shoulder. �Be good and always believe in God.� He holds up the picture and blows over it to dry the ink. The message makes me think. Fab abs and perfect pecs anyone can work out in a gym. For the rest... there�s God. Didn�t I say, a down-to-earth guy.