Happy Birthday Akshay Kumar: At 51, he is good as gold

The boy from Chandni Chowk has indeed come a long way. As Akshay Kumar turns 51 on Sunday, the National Award-winner is looking at a full calendar ahead with projects that are the envy of his colleagues. His career has been as good as gold last few years -- Akshay has not given a dud in years, his films earning kudos from critics and moolah from the audience.

Akshay Kumar’s has been a classic tale of a small-town boy making it big in Bollywood. (IANS)

Take 2018, for instance. Our birthday boy had two releases -- Padman and Gold. Both came with Akshay’s trademark -- socially relevant message and patriotism weaved into entertaining content. The films not only found favour with the audience but earned brownie points for the leading man too, especially Padman that dealt with the issue of menstrual hygiene. Akshay just took on from where he left off in 2017’s Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, a film that started the conversation of having a toilet within the house.

His common man stories with interesting plots, smart choices of script, socially relevant message that never compromises on the entertainment factor have ensured that Akshay is among the A-league of Bollywood stars. The fact that his films are made on a budget and on a tight schedule also ensure that they are always profit-making ventures. Perhaps, another reason why we see him ranking among world’s richest actors.

Gold is Akshay’s eighth hit in a row after Padman (Rs 78.22 crore), Toilet Ek Prem Katha, courtroom drama Jolly LLB 2 (Rs 117 crore), crime thriller Rustom (Rs 127.49 crore), Housefull 3 (Rs 109.14 crore), Airlift (Rs 128.1 crore) and action comedy Singh Is Bliing (Rs 89.95 crore). Made on a controlled budget, the films are almost always a hit, even when they miss the magical Rs 100 crore mark.

Akshay Kumar with his wife Twinkle Khanna are among the most popular couples in Bollywood. (Twitter)

What makes Akshay’s golden run so special is that it comes after years of struggle. In an interview two years ago, Akshay had revealed that he had once delivered 16 back-to-back flops. So, how did he survive? “You have to be a producer’s actor and keep good terms with them. The industry people are ‘dilwale’ but you must never ever forget professionalism,” was Akshay’s honest response.

If that kept him in good stead for all these years, he has now realised that being the audience’s actor is the real key. The new Akshay believes in content-driven cinema and he is ready to work with a team to deliver cinema that entertains and keep them coming back for more.

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