In the third decade of his career, Akshay Kumar is on a reinvention spree. Gone are the days when he could be accused of repeating himself film after film (read comedies); today the star is playing across genres. Last year marked a major resurgence for Akshay with five of his films — Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore, Joker, OMG - Oh My God and Khiladi 786 grossing as much as Rs. 400 crores! What’s more, each film was different from the other. And this year Akshay’s adventurism continued on a positive note with the good reviews he garnered for Special 26 .
“Yes, I am constantly on the move,” Akshay says talking about his films. “There was a time when Bollywood was thriving on comedy films and I too did those in quick succession. Now that action is being demanded by the audience, I am working on few such films belonging to that genre,” says Akshay.
The coming months are going to make it amply clear that Akshay is moving on and that he is no longer sticking to either comedy or action. His line up of films includes Milan Luthria’s Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai 2 , Anthony D’Souza’s Boss , A.R. Murugadoss’s Thuppakki remake and the Karan Johar-produced Punit Malhotra-directed Gutka.
“I have to be pro-active about my immediate future as well,” the actor says. “This is the reason I am mixing action ( Boss and the Thuppakki remake) with drama ( Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai 2 ). There is also a comedy with Sajid-Farhad while Gutka will be in a packaged entertainer zone. Who knows, there could well be a romantic film round the corner as well.”
Talking of romance, one can see that he is breaking quite a few other rules as well. Apparently, he doesn’t have any leading lady opposite him in Boss . “That’s right, but then at times it is agreeable as well, isn’t it?” smiles Akshay.
“If I don’t move away from the clichés after being in the industry for over 20 years, then what’s the point in gaining such experience? There is no fun in running behind clichés.”
