A LITTLE BIT ABOUT AKSHAY KUMAR
Thursday, 23rd August, 2007
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT AKSHAY KUMAR
He’s good looking. He can do action. He can do comedy. He dances like a dream. Akshay Kumar has emerged as one of Bollywood’s most bankable stars. Ask Akshay Kumar (RAJEEV HARI OM BHATIA-his actual name) if he ever dreamt he would become a Hindi film hero and he shakes his head to say a big “No”
Almost from the beginning, Akshay was slotted as an action hero. That probably had something to do with the fact that since he was a boy, he was fascinated by wrestling and martial arts. His father, who was in the Army, had a passionate interest in wrestling and taught the young Akshay plenty of wrestling tricks like chit, Kama, uthana, patakna. On hot summer afternoons in Delhi (where he was born and spent the first few years of his life and all his school and college vacations after his father moved to Mumbai), Akshay would take off to Rajghat where he would exercise and practice martial arts.
Occasionally, his father would come by and watch him, sometimes even give him a rub down with raee ka tel. Akshay would then cool off under a tap close by once his routine was done. Later; he even taught martial arts; and when he was in Bangkok, working as a waiter, he would participate in Thai boxing bouts. It was the Khiladi films (he acted in seven of them, of which only one was a comedy - Mr. and Mrs. Khiladi) that really established him as a tough action star who did his stunts himself. In fact, the most dangerous stunt he ever did was in Khiladi 420. He stood on a plane (when the plane was about 2000 feet above the ground, not stationary at a runway) and jumped down from it in a hot air balloon.
Now that he’s married to former actress-turned-interior designer Twinkle Khanna and has a five-year, old son Araav, Akshay says he’s cut down on his stunts. But that’s not entirely true. Akshay’s current passion is yamakasi, an urban sport that started out in France and has become popular worldwide. It involves smooth, continuous movement: you keep running while surmounting obstacles (you jump from roof to roof, for instance).
You can see the Akshay and yamakasi combination in his latest Thums Up ad.
He’s worked as a waiter in Bangkok, not even in a proper restaurant; he was in one of those caravan-type things, and at a hotel called Purbasi in Dhaka, among other places.
How on earth did he get into films at all? He was in Bombay, teaching martial arts when someone asked him if he’d like to do some modeling. He agreed. He got Rs 21,000 for standing in an AC room with a beautiful girl. And gradually while doing all this one day he got a break in films.
After establishing himself as an action star, Akshay did ‘quite a few of what the film trade calls ‘emotional’ and romantic roles. Movies like Dhadkan, for instance, and later- Ek Rishtaa - The Bond of Love. But it was only when he started doing comedy that Akshay proved his versatility to the film industry. The turning point was Hera Pheri. Priyadarshan, the director and Firoz Naidadwala, the producer decided Akshay would be good for the film.
After the success of Hera pheri, Akshay did a series of comedies - the sequel of Hera pheri, Garam Masala, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Bhagam Bhag. In a heavy starcast film like Khakhee too, Akshay stood out in a superb performance as a corrupt cop. Two of his forthcoming films Mera Naam Chin Chin Chao and Singh Is King - are action films. But Akshay is at pains to point out that he’s talking about action, not violence.
Experience has taught him to act. Akshay had 15 or 16 flops in a row. Akshay has managed to find his place under the sun. On his part, whatever he has learnt was from maker Pramod Chakravorty, who gave him one of his first breaks in a film called Deedar. At the moment, according to industry insiders, Akshay earns about Rs. Six crore a film.
The advertisement Akshay is shooting, for instance, is yet another pointer to his success. Akshay is endorsing just three products - Thums Up (”It’s his baby, he has been with the brand for seven years”), Microsoft X Box 360 and Grasim (”It’s an Aditya Birla company, it’s a great brand”).
And in the last few years, his overseas market, especially in the UK, has really grown. In England, he’s bigger than even Hrithik Roshan or Salman Khan. Akshay is an all-rounder. He’s a great action star. Along with Govinda, he’s probably the best at comedy. And he dances like a dream. If there’s one drawback, it is Akshay’s weak voice which doesn’t match his tall, macho good looks. And perhaps the fact that till now, he has remained a hardcore commercial actor. But that might change, now that he’s signed a movie with off beat film maker Nagesh Kukunoor. Neither however seems to have impeded his career.
