The new King of Bollywood, Akshay Kumar describes himself as one “lucky bugger”. The 40-year-old actor never had it so good and he’s enjoying his place in the Bollywood sun despite Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan taking digs at him on who the real box office king was or who the highest paid actor was.
“I am not a Khan so what gives me the right to comment on what they say or want? What I can say is what I feel about them, and that is they are both superb performers. If they increase their price then ‘well done’. I only ask for what I know I truly deserve. But the question is ‘do they?’ It looks like the trend is catching on, well done boys!” says Akshay of his contemporaries.
He has been traveling extensively of late, one day he’s in South Africa, the next in Bangkok, then LA, Egypt and now in the Bahamas, with Mumbai being a distant land of sorts. “Sorry where… Mumbai? I don’t think I know where that is. Oh no…wait, I live there right? Yeesh it’s been so long! I must go back sometime time soon.” he says.
And of course, that doesn’t leave him any time to blog like Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan does it? “My gosh do you not know me at all? Do I look like the kind of guy that would sit at a computer writing blogs? Believe me if I was, then I’m definitely doing something wrong. You get what I mean? I’d rather talk to people through my movies,” he retorts.
Given his last film, Yash Raj’s Tashan flopped miserably, tainting his superhit status at the box office, would he work with them in the near future? “So what if Tashan flopped? I’m not afraid of a flop, I did my very best and that’s all one can do. Come on, they are the premier makers in our industry. Of course I’d love to work with them. Throw me a good script and I’m anyone’s,” he reasons. So what makes him and Vipul Shah such an amazing team at the box office? They hit the bullseye every time they work together - Namastey London being their biggest film together. “Well it goes something like this - Vipul understands my needs and I understand what he wants in a performance and that’s what makes us the perfect couple. It’s as simple as that.
It’s like a marriage, no pun intended of course. I don’t want to marry my director/producer or anything. But compromise is the main key to any relationship,” he says, even as their next, Singh is Kinng is ready to hit the marquee soon. Hysterical fans are a part of this handsome actor’s life nowadays creating stampedes and euphoria wherever he goes. “IIFA was fantastic for me. The warmth, the support, the mass hysteria like you said… it’s what makes all your hardwork feel worth it when every single member in the audience is behind every word you sing with their fists up screaming Singh is Kinng. What more could a Punjabi boy ask for?”
