I'm a better father than an actor, says Shah Rukh Khan

Inside Mannat, it is difficult to tell what hour of the day it is -- mobile phones ring incessantly, marketing and publicity plans in the run up to Chennai Express release are being discussed, over 20 journalists await their chance to interview the film's stars, trays laden with sandwiches and other food items are brought in at regular intervals for everyone present.

The constant flow of caffeine and nicotine -- the two things that are sustaining all those present -- betray the fact that it is perhaps an unearthly hour.

At 1 am, the caffeine and nicotine also prove to be the unifying factors -- between a boss and his team, between an interviewee and his interviewers, between a film star and everyone else present.

In the hours that he has been seated in his office, Shah Rukh Khan has sipped on endless cups of black coffee even as flecks of ash rest on his black Pathani kurta pyjama.

Lighting a cigarette as he settles back into the couch, the actor confesses: "I like to work through the night and go to bed at 6 am. I sleep very few hours in a day, a habit I cultivated at a very young age."

In Class V, he returned home after an exam and overslept by six hours. When he woke up panicking about his History exam the following day, Shah Rukh Khan's father, offering him a glass of orange juice and head massage, told him that he had the whole night to study.

"But I got weary by 3.30 am. So my father asked me to sleep while he sat by my bed, reading out chapter after chapter to me as I slept. The next day I seemed to remember everything. The following night I managed to stay up till 4.30 am and the day after that till 6am, so my father didn't have to read out to me at all. That's been my routine ever since."