By Shilpa Raina,IANS,
New Delhi : Supermodels-turned-actors Milind Soman and Rahul Dev have joined hands to open Breathe, a gym-cum-fitness centre in the capital, to help people lead a healthy lifestyle here. Milind says their emphasis will not be on bodybuilding but on fitness.
“Rahul and I are collaborating for this fitness centre. We have been friends for years and this is another level of our friendship,” Milind told IANS at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) where he has a stall for the promotion of the centre.
“This will be a place for people who want to be fit and improve their lifestyles. Our emphasis will not be on body building, but on fitness,” he added.
“People have this mindset that one goes to gym either for body building or for weight loss, but in between these two verticals there is a term -healthy body – and it is completely ignored by everyone. Our focus is to make people physically as well as mentally fit,” added Milind who will turn 43 next month.
Why the name Breathe?
“Breathing is the foundation of everything, but we do not understand its
importance. Breathing plays a pivotal role in exercise and we focussed on it and decided on the name,” said Milind.
“We will have a breathing orientation programme for everyone who joins our centre. We will first teach them how to breathe properly and only then we will go ahead with exercise. We believe if the foundation is weak, you can’t grow a building on it,” he added.
Though Milind sports a greying beard, his physique defies his age and this is what he wants everyone to incorporate in their lives.
“I have never been a gym person, but I have always led a healthy lifestyle.My fitness background has come in handy – I was involved in many activities like swimming, jogging and other sports activities.”
Fitness apart, Milind has a production house Maximus Events and he recently collaborated with designer Madhu Jain and launched a fashion line “M” to promote indigenous talent and handicrafts in India.
“The whole idea is to promote rich Indian tradition and work that is losing its charm, so we are here to revive our traditional heritage. Madhu will be doing the designing part and I will focus on marketing but together we will do the selection of design. It will be team work,” he quipped.
Talking about his forthcoming movies, Milind revealed that he is doing a Marathi film called “Gandh” (smell) that explores senses through cinematic experience.
The movie has three different stories and Milind is playing the lead in one of the stories and his character is called Sarang.
But Milind, who was seen in Hindi movies like “Bheja Fry”, “16 December” and “Say Salaam India”, doesn’t have any Bollywood projects in hand.
“I am very strange – I don’t want to do typical mainstream cinema because at the end of the day you end up doing one thing only. I am more of an explorer who explores different avenues and ventures. I am happy the way my life is doing presently,” he said.
The actor is married to French actress Mylene Jampanoi, who featured with him in Pan Nalin’s “Valley of Flowers”, a romantic tale based on the myths of the great mountains.