Socially relevant may be the term to describe Akshay Kumar’s forthcoming films — Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Padman . The former is a fictionalised account inspired by real-life incidents where a husband wakes up to the need to build a toilet at home to win back his estranged wife; the latter is inspired by Coimbatore-based Arunachalam Muruganantham who invented a machine to manufacture low cost sanitary napkins.
When we meet the actor for an interview, he mulls over the words ‘socially relevant’ and emphasises, “Both these are entertaining films. I can categorically state that I don’t do dark films or those that feel like documentaries. Films have to be entertaining to reach more people. I take a similar approach if I have to say something to my son. We talk, have fun and in the process I discuss issues.”
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, produced by Neeraj Pandey and directed by Shree Narayan Singh, is making all the right moves ahead of its August 11 release. The actor recently met clean-up marshals of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), lauding them for their cleanliness drive, and made headlines for meeting prime minister Narendra Modi. The film may seem like a vehicle to support Swachh Bharat mission, but the story was written a few years ago inspired by women who created a stir when they refused to accept the norm that they had to defecate in the open.
Reportedly, the story was earlier pitched to other well known actors. Akshay agrees and adds, “When I heard the story, I felt it’s so relevant. I liked the love story. The toilet is the villain and creates a conflict. The fact that we have ‘toilet’ in the title makes the film a talking point.”
He feels the film has already begun to spark a dialogue: “Beyond sanitation and hygiene, the larger problem is safety of women who have to wake up before sunrise and walk a long way to relieve themselves. Then it’s a wait again till sunset. I learnt that 54% of India doesn’t have toilets,” he says.
As Akshay sets to follow up this film with Padman , he reveals that the film is set in Madhya Pradesh and not Coimbatore.
Rising above image trappings, the actor has been dabbling in varied genres. His filmography in 2016 has Airlift , Rustom , Jolly LLB2 … “there’s Housefull 3 as well,” he chuckles before we finish. “Sometimes good scripts come to me; then there are instances where I or my team pursue scripts,” he says.
Risky but fun
In a month, Akshay reads four or five scripts and his team reads many more. Arriving at a stage where he won’t be predictable took effort, he admits. “It’s not easy playing with your image constantly. I wanted to change the perception that I could only do action films or slapstick comedy. It was a risk when I started the process, but that’s also part of the fun.”
He is pleased with this phase of his career and credits his success to well wishers, his team that “diligently goes through a range of scripts” and his fan base that’s accepted him going against the grain. “I look for scripts that are out of the box,” he affirms.
In the pipeline are Shankar’s 2.0 with Rajinikanth and Gold , a period sports drama that focuses on India’s hockey from Olympics 1936 to 1948. He refutes reports that Gold is a biopic on hockey player Balbir Singh Sr: “We’re looking at several aspects of hockey during the period.”
2.0 will see him as a menacing villain. Akshay clams up when the conversation veers in that direction, “I’ve finished shooting for it, but it would be a breach of contract to reveal anything.”
