Piyush Roy
Akshay Kumar did it again at the cinemas this week – play the good-hearted simpleton hero, who loves his mother, respects his father, and rescues his girl. I am talking about his latest release Singh is Bling. Predictably the critics panned it, the masses loved it (the film netted 50 plus crores in its opening weekend), and will soon inspire another similar film from one of Bollywood’s most successful action heroes.‘Will he ever do an acting role?’ someone wondered aloud during the interval of the Bling screening. Most replied, equally exasperatedly ‘Has he ever really done one?’ Now, that was a bit unfair, since they all went back to enjoy the ‘silly’ movie and didn’t leave until it was over. Akshay Kumar’s film legacy today may seem to be stuck in his debuting ‘Khiladi’ genre of films, but one would be surprised to see how often he has ventured out of the club of fellow action stars, before or after, like Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Aditya Pancholi,Sunil Shetty and the like. Needless to add, he also is a superstar! Here’s sharing some memorable ‘different’ moments from his acting journey that prove that Akshay Kumar, with the right script and director, can act other emotions too.
Yeh Dillagi (Vijay Saigal, 1994)
Akshay’s first big banner film, Yeh Dillagi (inspired by the Audrey Hepburn-Humphrey Bogart starrer Sabrina) had him pitted opposite two promising newcomers, Saif Ali Khan and Kajol. Saif and Akshay play two opposite natured sons of a rich industrialist, who end up falling in love with the same girl, a ‘dreamy-eyed’ daughter of their father’s chauffer. Pretty in sync with romantic triangles, the YashRaj banner was then famous for, the film, though a small budget quickie with newcomers worked for its first time casting and hit music. And, though Saif danced his way into audience’s hearts riding on the success of the song Ole ole… Akshay surprised his detractors, by his polished changeover into a reserved romantic in complete contrast of his then prevalent image of a street smart toughie to get his first set of popular Best Actor nominations.
Dil To Pagal Hai (Ajay, 1997)
Akshay’s second date with YashRaj, came as another welcome ‘romantic’ breather in his career’s action packed run in the 1990s, where he played the romantic other interest in a love quadrangle. As the ‘sacrificing’ childhood friend turned fiancée of the heroine Madhuri Dixit, in love with the film’s dapper hero Shah Rukh, the simplicity of Akshay’s character endeared with all its flaws, including that gummy smile. Though Akshay has never shied from playing cameos throughout his career, (the last memorable one being Om Shanti Om), his character’s post interval entry in Dil To Pagal Hai was definitely more than a cameo with he even getting the film’s title song to be picturised on him.
Hera Pheri(Raju, 2000)
The success of this Hindi remake of Malayalam hit Ramji Rao Speaking marked the beginning of the Priyadarshan-Akshay Kumar partnership that has been upping Bollywood’s satire meter ever since with more adaptations from Malayalam cinema. An endearing performance by Paresh Rawal notwithstanding, Akshay impressed all with his ‘natural’ performance, of an average, ambitious boy next door, who just goes a bit astray with his ‘making-it-big’ dream.
Dhadkan(Ram, 2000)
Coming close on the heels of his successful comic turn in Hera Pheri, Dhadkan at length, explored the complexities within another facet of the Akshay acting range attempted onlysparingly before in Yeh Dillagi and Dil To Pagal Hai. Though many preferred the film’s ‘Raavan’ inspired character of Sunil Shetty, who walked away with the acting honours over Akshay’s too good and forgiving to be true ‘Ram’, the film’s popularity did inspire him to experiment more often beyond his tough guy image, as the box-office assuredly ushered him into the most diverse and challenging years of his career.
Aitraaz (Raj Malhotra, 2004)
Raj (Akshay Kumar) is a suave businessman, who while steadily climbing the corporate ladder also shares a contented conjugal life with wife, Priya (Kareena Kapoor). Trouble brews, when Sonia (Priyanka Chopra), the ‘sexy young’ wife of Raj’s old boss, wants to reignite the flames of their failed past love affair. She tries to force Raj back into an affair. But when he refuses, the scorned Sonia implicates him on a false molestation charge, as his doting wife dons the lawyer’s role to prove his innocence in court. In this Disclosure inspired battle of the ladies, Akshay attempts another never before attempted part by an Indian hero –a sexually harassed male at work.
Waqt: The Race Against Time(Aditya Thakur, 2005)
Acting opposite his ‘favourite actor’ Amitabh Bachchan, Waqtis the story of a man, who has little time on hand and his son, who refuses to shoulder any responsibilities. Ishwar Sharawat (Amitabh) dotes on his dutiful son Aditya (Akshay), and hopes that marriage will make him more responsible. Aditya disappoints and Ishwar in a shocking turn of events throws him out of the house with his pregnant wife. Aditya starts working as a stuntman and starts preparing for a star-search contest. But his growing independence further widens the rift between the father and son.Their verbal confrontations, as also the events that force Akshay to grow up, are brilliant, scoring highly on the emotion metre.
Jaan-E-Mann (Agastya Rao, 2006)
Jaan-e-Mann is no usual love triangle tale, in spite of oscillating between two guys (Salman and Akshay) in love with the same girl (Preity Zinta). Here an ex-husband is trying hard to make his ex-wife fall in love with a most unlikely suitor, to save himself from having to pay a hefty alimony. However, as he tries to model a geeky NASA astronaut (Akshay) into his own avatar of an irresistible Adonis, the rock star hubby (Salman) realises that his romance with his wife is far from over. Akshay surprises and endears in his portrayal of a geek who spikes his hair and bares his chest to win the woman he wants, only to return to his boring, oiled and bespectacled in the end.
