Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar says his upcoming film “Gabbar is Back” has no similarity with Bollywood classic “Sholay.” Akshay, who unveiled the film’s trailer with co-star Shruti Hassan, said his new movie cannot be called as the sequel of the Amitabh Bachchan-Dharmendra starrer hit 1975 action-adventure drama. “There are no similarities between that Gabbar (from Sholay) and this one. And there is no link also between the two films. This is not a Sholay part 2,” he said.
Directed by debutant Krish, the movie is a remake of a Tamil film called “Rammana”, directed by A R Murugadoss. It shows Akshay’s character on a mission to end corruption. Akshay, 47, said the film has used all the elements of Bollywood’s popular villain but with a positive twist.
“In the film ‘Sholay’, Gabbar was beating good people but in this film we have used all the Gabbar elements but in a positive way. I have worked with Murugadoss (Holiday) who has written and directed the original film ‘Rammana’. He made this film 10 years back and felt the urge to write a film on killing corruption. Corruption still exists. I liked the way of killing corruption in the film and agreed to do the film,” the star said.
When asked if he did any special preparation for the role, Akshay said, “It was director Krish who worked so hard and I just held his hand. I just followed him. I have been always known as a director’s actor.”
The “Rowdy Rathore” star said through “Gabbar is Back” he is not trying to act preachy but just trying to present his point of view on corruption. “It’s a small try towards that, I am not here to teach. This is my point of view. Maybe two per cent people have stopped giving milk to god after they watched “Oh My God”. So many rape cases are happening around us. I take few classes of self defence with women free of cost. Whatever I can teach, I try to give that whether that will make a difference or not will come later. I don’t think that I am doing something, which will make the difference. I am doing because I feel for it,” he said.
The movie, produced by Viacom 18 and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, releases May 1.
