22 January,2015: There are two types of Akshay Kumar’s in the Indian Film Industry – one is seen in leave-your-brains-at-home movies like ‘Heyy Babyy’ and ‘Tees Maar Khan’ and the other in serious-sensible creations like ‘Aitraaz’ and ‘Special 26′.
Both of them are highly entertaining and still both of them are hugely differentiable.
In a nation of multitudes of superstars and megastars, Akshay Kumar, leaving apart Amitabh Bachchan, is the only actor who has exhibited a variety within himself. You can, thereby, see him as a buffoon doing all kinds of tomfoolery in ‘Tees Maar Khan’ and a dutiful, responsible cop in ‘Holiday’ and yet, nail each and every nuance of the character.
What makes Akshay Kumar so different from others? It may be the inherent Punjabi genes that goad him to take well calculated risks. Hence, he knows what movie to do when. He knows ‘Welcome’ worked in 2007, and ‘Holiday’ will work in 2014. Though ‘Entertainment’ didn’t entertain the people much, we still can’t complain.
Akshay Kumar is a self made star; he never had a godfather in the industry, so he doesn’t have anybody to be answerable to. Apart from marrying a superstar’s (Rajesh Khanna) daughter Twinkle Khanna, he doesn’t have any other star connection too. What he does, it’s his life and his decisions and mostly, they are right.
Akshay Kumar has nothing to lose; he has enough money, enough of star value and enough charm to woo the audiences back whenever he wants.
And one cannot overlook the exceptional talent the actor possesses. Whether it’s his comic timing, well displayed in movies like ‘Hera Pheri’ and ‘Namastey London’, or romantic side in ‘Aitraaz’ or ‘Dhadkan’ or the action-heroism in ‘Rowdy Rathore’ or any of the ‘Khiladi’ movies or the villainous streak in ‘Ek Ajnabi’, Akshay Kumar excels in whatever role he plays.
Perhaps that’s why Neeraj Pandey, director of the critically acclaimed ‘A Wednesday’, took a chance with Akshay Kumar in ‘Special 26′ and made a movie to remember. He has yet again taken the mantle and shot Akshay in the upcoming ‘Baby’.
The movie centres around terrorism and gives a profound take on the army men and on those who lay their lives for the nation. Akshay Kumar, Neeraj’s trusted samaritan, reprises a cop in this movie, which also features Anupam Kher in a pivotal role.
Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta was recently quoted saying that Akshay Kumar can ‘turn the tide in favour of sensible cinema’. And we agree! If he keeps doing movies like ‘Holiday’ and ‘Special 26′, the likes of ‘Entertainment’ will still be bearable.
‘Baby’ has not been promoted extensively, on Akshay’s say as he didn’t want this special movie to be out and about. The content as pure as the movie upholds needs serious execution, not promotions. And nobody’s complaining too. The buzz on the movie is so much that the movie can be a big and huge hit without calling for extensive promotions.
‘Baby’ made a record of nationwide trending on micro blogging site Twitter even before the release of its teaser, leave alone trailer. A perfect amalgamation of commercial and art cinema, ‘Baby’, thus, has nearly centennial chances of amassing praises of critics as well as moolah at the Box Office.
The flip side of this whole phenomenon is the polite snub given to the women folk, as neither do they have strong roles in these movies, nor are they able to emerge from just being the eye candy for the central character.
So, while we wait for yet another Akshay Kumar-Neeraj Pandey-Anupam Kher classic, we wish the trio all the luck for their movie.
Source:The Indian Express
