Planet Bollywood
Akshay Kumar - Mr. Box Office Consistent
- Pankaj Kumar Sinha           Let us know what you think about this article

In Bollywood, we always talk about the Khan Troika of Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan and their success at the box office for more than twenty five years. At the same time, there has been another actor, who has done more films than the combined total of the films done by the Khans and his movies have done consistently well at the box office. It is none other than our Mr. Box Office Consistent Akshay Kumar. Most of the actors today are doing one or two films a year. Akshay Kumar is the only actor who has three to four releases every year. His movies may not be big blockbusters like Khan starrers but he has been a part of several hit films. He has acted in more than hundred films in a career spanning more than two decades.

Akshay Kumar started his career with action films because of his experience in martial arts. He tasted success with films like Khiladi, Mohra, Yeh Dillagi, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Sabse Bada Khiladi and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi. He never got appreciation from critics for his acting though. Lots of critics felt that he had a wooden face. In between there was a phase when a majority of his films were bombing at the box office. He was stereotyped as an action hero. He was limiting himself as an actor by doing only action films. Akshay Kumar wanted himself to be taken seriously as an actor. He made some change in his choices of films. 'Jaanwar' was the turning point of his career. He got good appreciation for this emotional performance.

He also did a negative role in film 'Ajnabee' and that won him the Filmfare Best Actor in a Negative role trophy. He did different kinds of films and maintained a good success rate. He had successes in 'Ek Rishtaa', 'Dhadkan', 'Waqt - Race against Time' and 'Aankhen'. Govinda was an actor with impeccable comic timing and did lots of successful comedy films and was called comedy king. His peak days were behind him and his movies were not doing well at the box office. Akshay Kumar became the new choice for comedy roles as he was liked earlier in comic roles in films like 'Mr. Khiladi Mrs. Khiladi' and 'Waqt Hamara Hai.' He began a fresh and successful innings in comedy films. His movies were becoming big successes at the box office.

The big successful career phase of Akshay Kumar had begun and this was the phase where he grew as a star. His popularity soared and his coming timing was loved by his fans. 'Hera Pheri' changed his career for good. Comedy became his forte. He followed up with successful comedies in 'Awara Pagal Deewana', 'Singh Is Kiing', 'Heyy Baby', 'Mujhse Shaadi Karoge', 'Housefull', 'Hera Pheri 2', 'Welcome', 'Desi Boyz' and 'Housefull2'. He was again being taken seriously as an actor. We only saw him in roles with comic elements. For any actor, they cannot be doing similar kind of roles and films and hence will lose the meaning of being an actor. The actor needs to challenge himself at regular intervals and needs to come out of their comfort zone.

Akshay Kumar also understood the pulse of changing times and the taste of audience. The younger audience was tired of seeing him in slapstick comedies. The Neeraj Pandey directed 'Special Chabbis' was another turning point for his career. The movie was very close to realism. In such films, the actor has to take over the star to raise the bar of the film. Akshay Kumar has brought good balance in his career between masala entertainers and films on different subjects. If there is commercial entertainer like 'Housefull 3' in his kitty then he is also doing fairly offbeat movies like 'Baby', Airlift' and now 'Rustom'. His latest film 'Rustom' sees him in real life character naval officer Rustom Pavri. Akshay Kumar has given his career best performance. He is growing as an actor and also his movies are consistently doing well at box office.


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