India FM

Mumbai, Feb 25: After shooting round-the-clock for Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodha-Akbar, flying back each evening to rehearse for the Filmfare awards and shooting for an ad in Singapore, Hrithik is down with a severe attack of viral fever.

"I'm totally bed-ridden," he said from his home on Wednesday. "I've been working round-the-clock, flying in from Karjat to rehearse. Then I also took off for Singapore. All the time I had high fever and was keeping it down with paracetemol tablets. Today is the first time when I'm resting. Post-Saif all of us really need to take of ourselves," whispers Hrithik softly.

Lately Hrithik has allowed himself to be self-indulgent with his food habits. "I was so much into being well-toned for Dhoom 2, I decided to give my body a holiday. I splurged for a while. But then I needed to get back into shape. Therefore after shooting, rehearsing for my Filmfare performance , I was also going to the gym daily. On top of all this, Ashutosh Gowariker hadn't warned me that we'd be doing sword-fighting sequences during the last twenty days when I was in and out of Mumbai and Karjat. All this has taken its toll. I'm completely exhausted and burning with a fever."

He brightens up while speaking about his role as Akbar. "I've enjoyed playing everyone from Rohit in Koi...Mil Gaya to Aryan in Dhoom 2. But playing Akbar is a different challenge requiring a lot of researched attention."

The Urdu professor called on location to check the accent is happy. "He hasn't been complaining. So I guess I'm doing it right," says Hrithik who is in no mood to sign another film yet. "At the moment I think a break is seriously needed after Jodha-Akbar. We must learn to listen to warning signals from the body."