Akshay kumar is a pragmatic man. He knows fame can be a fair-weather friend. His success has been hard won and he stays clear of complacence. This is why, after 135 films spanning a 24-year-long career, the actor still worries about his place on the bus. It is a metaphorical bus, slowly filling up with the year’s top performers—those who have won their audience’s hearts and proved valuable at the box office. A seat means you get one more chance, one more year, to play the fame game, says Kumar. But seats have to be earned on this bus, and the price of a ticket is, simply, success. “I need to be careful and work very hard to get a seat on that bus,” he shrugs. “A new set of movies will release every year, and I will be tested all over again, but my seat is ensured only if I have done well every single year.” It is also why, on December 31, as people get ready to let their hair down and celebrate the year gone by, one of Bollywood’s most hardworking actors will be taking stock of the hits and misses of 2014. By forbes India B-) B-) For the most part, it’s been a fruitful year. His film Holiday (co-produced by wife Twinkle Khanna and directed by AR Murugadoss), where he plays the lead alongside Sonakshi Sinha, was a super-hit. Meanwhile, his second film for the year, Entertainment, got a mixed response from fans and critics alike. He’s also returned to television after a two-year hiatus, with a dance reality show, Dare2Dance. Akshay Kumar’s place on the bus is assured. But he takes little for granted. The teetotaler is driven by the need to prove to himself, and to his fans, that he has what it takes to maintain his reign as a superstar. “I don’t want to live without success. I will not be able to accept it if I am no longer a part of this industry. But that also means I have to keep striving,” says Kumar. This will to succeed, persist and persevere is what, he believes, has kept him in the lead—especially at the box office which, he says, is akin to a horse race at a turf club. Like horses, actors compete every week, and a new hero emerges based on the Friday results. He’s lost many races, and felt the pain of failure. But then he picks up the pieces and starts again, one movie at a time. “If a film flops on a Friday, of course it hurts. I’ve given six to nine months of my life to that movie. But, by Monday, I try to forget it and move ahead. There is no point brooding; it spoils the future.” His sister Alka’s recollections of the actor in his youth reveal a softer, sensitive side to the big action hero. “When Akshay got upset after a movie didn’t do well, he would go to mom and curl up with his head in her lap,” says Alka, 43. His mother, Aruna Bhatia, would run her fingers through his hair, and it would calm him immediately. In Punjabi, she would tell him, “Puttar, koi gal nahin. Sab theek ho jaana hai [Son, don’t worry. Everything will work out well eventually].” Today, the 47-year-old actor, born Rajiv Bhatia, also relies on wife Twinkle and his two children to get over momentary setbacks. Family remains the centre of his universe. It is the backbone of his career; the bedrock of his existence. “His pet name is Raju. And he feels at home among people, his family, who call him Raju,” says Alka. The actor sticks to an eight-hour work day (one shift in film production parlance), is back home by 7 pm, and spends the evening with his 12-year-old son Aarav and two-year-old daughter Nitara. He never works on a Sunday. “I have one life, and I want to enjoy it. I want to spend enough time with my children,” he says. “I know of many celebrities who barely spend time with their children or family, and then regret later. I don’t want to make this mistake.”
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:16:12 +0000
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