IK MUNDA PUNJABI

Akshay Kumar was born Rajiv Bhatia on 9th September 1967 in Delhi.  He lived in a mohalla in Chandni Chowk before moving to Mumbai and Amritsar. He was inclined more towards martial arts and sports, and less towards studies. Very apt for a man who would consequently be known as a 'khiladi'. He landed up in Bangkok to learn martial arts.  By his own admission he had to stuggle very hard to make ends meet in Bangkok. At one point of time he was working as a chef there.

He returned to Mumbai to teach martial arts. One day a student, who was a model co-ordinator suggested that he take up modelling. It was an ad shoot for some furniture.  Akshay worked there for a few hours and was given a cheque for Rs.5500/- He was amazed to see that he could earn more than his full months' salary in a few hours time. After that he took up ramp and media modelling. Our tall dark handsome Punjabi Munda was a hit as a model, which in turn gave him a break in films. 

HERO BAN GAYA KHILADI

He was signed on to act in Deedar, a weepy love story with Karishma Kapoor. However Saugandh hit the marquee first in 1991.  It sank like a brick. Deedar and Mr Bond were also no-starters.  His first hit was Khiladi. Here his martial arts training came in useful.  Our boy did his own stunts and the movie was a hit. 

His next few films were primarily action films, Elan, Waqt Hamara Hai, Qayda Kanoon, Dili Ki Baazi, Sainik.  These were not top hits of the year, but Akshay was getting a good fan following among the action flick viewers.

Naresh Malhotra's Yeh Dillagi was a remake of Sabrina, the Harrison Ford starrer.  Akshay played the part of Harrison Ford here and after so many action roles he was great in this romantic movie.  All the singing and dancing here was done by Saif Ali Khan and Akshay played the reserved, serious older son.  But he did reveal a soft heart and won the girl. It movie was another big hit after Khiladi.

HIT PE HIT

1994 was a good year for Akshay.  After a successful Yeh Dillagi he also had the immensely popular Mohra, Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Suhaag.  In Mohra he co-starred with Raveena Tandon and the well picturised song 'Tu cheez badi hai mast mast' was a huge hit too. It was an thriller of sorts with plenty of action to keep Akshay fans happy.

Main Khiladi Tu Anari co-starred Akshay with Saif and the hot hot Shilpa Shetty.  Shilpa and Akshay danced to Chura ke dil mera and put the song on the top of all hit lists. The movie was a comedy action thriller.  It had Saif in a largely comic role, with Akshay chipping in with one-liners and most of the action.

Suhaag again had Nagma and Akshay jiving to 'Gore gore mukhde pe kala kala chasma'.  It was a romantic thriller with Ajay Devgan and Karishma as the other couple.  Now our munda was no longer an anari, he could dance, act and go Bam Bam !

In Sabse Bada Khiladi Akshay teamed up again with Mamta Kulkarni who laid out the oomph in oodles. With songs like 'Bharo maang meri bharo', 'Bholi bhali ladki' and 'zeher hai ke pyar hai tera chumma'.  Akshay was still treading the well beaten path of dance,song and handing out knuckle sandwiches.  He was doing his own stunts and action fans were clapping hard.

APNA KHILADI

Khiladion ke Khiladi was a hit.  It had Akshay in a provocative role with Rekha.  The heroine was of course, Raveena Tandon, but the majority of the action was shared by Madam Re and Akshay.  The movie sizzled.

He was working in movies like Sapoot, Daava, Tarazoo, Laho ke do rang.  But the formula was thinning out.. the taalis were fading and even a khiladi in the title did not work.  Mr and Mrs Khiladi and Khiladi 420 flopped.

CHANGE TRACKS

An extended special appearence in Dil To Pagal Hai helped him change tracks.  He played the broadminded fiance of Madhuri who gives her space to be with the man she likes, and sportingly teams up Karishma in the end.  His new avatar as a sophisticated lover boy was well liked and time seemed ripe for a makeover.  Anyhow, the box office was also signalling the same, change or perish.

Barring International Khiladi, which was an average grosser, his movies were not doing well.

Y2K brought him the required change.  He came up trumps with Dhadkan a purely sentimental movie.  He starred again with Shilpa here and played a guy with a golden heart who converts his bitter foe (Suniel Shetty) into a friend.  This year also brought him the movie that made everyone believe he was good at comedy too. Hera Pheri.  This movie wasn't the biggest grosser, but as is with many cult comedies, it became one gradually, as the reputation spread.

He played a negetive role in Ajnabi, starring with the new hottie Bipasha Basu.  Akshay was back.  He looked good, took care of his body and acted well in any given role. Then came Aankhen which was not a big hit, but very acclaimed.  Ditto for Khakee.  Khakee is seen as one of the few plausible action films to come out of hindi film industry.

SURVIVOR

Despite being nearly written off, Akshay survived string of flops and came up trumps now and then, till he gained a steady reputation in trade circles.  His faultless performances and good behaviour helped too.  He has said once, that when he had decided to follow acting as a profession, he set out to buy a book on acting.  He scoured the second hand market and found a book.  He did not have the money to buy the book and checked out the first page.  It said, To be a actor it is necessary to be a good human being.  "That is the only lesson I required", He has said.  Most of the film directors he has worked with, have repeated him again and again. He is almost a steady with Priyadarshan after Heri Pheri. 

So now, along with action thrillers like Aan, Ab tumhare Hawale watan Sathiyon, and Hatya, he worked in comedies too.  Mujse Shaadi Karogi was a huge hit, where he shared Priaynka Chopra with Salman Khan. Aitraaz, again with Priyanka and Kareena, was a romantic thriller in the style of The Other side of Midnight. Waqt (which flopped) was a family drama.  Priyadarshan's next slapstick comedy Garam Masala, was garama garm with 3 hot girls and John with Akshay.  There was plenty of eye candy here for both boys and girls and the movie was a hit. Deewane Hue Paagal was another comedy.

ROLLER COASTER

Humko Diwana Kar Gayi was a romantic movie with Katrina Kaif, the pairing was a hit, but the movie was not. Phir Hera Pheri, the remake of Hera Pheri was vastly successful.  So was Bhagam Bhag and Heyy Babyy. So now the action khiladi king is the comedy king too.  But not far away from romantic movies either, after his Namastey London was a big hit.  Jaaneman, though not a big hit, brought him critical acclaim for playing a clueless nerd.

Akshay cant ask for more.  He is seen as a good actor who can pull of any kind of a film. His personality is awesome, his stage appearences wow everyone.  He is a hunk at 40, and shows no signs of going down.

Bhool Bhulaiyya with Shiney Ahuja is on the verge of release.  He is working on Tashan, a Yash Raj movie.  Then there is a Indian Jackie Chan sort of a film full of action and romance starring him with Deepika Padukone.  It is Warner Bros first attempt at producing a hindi film and is being directed by Nikhil Advani.

GOSSSSSIP

Any gossip relating to Akshay starts and ends with his female co-stars.  He has allegedly said that women are his only vice, he does not either drink or smoke.  He has been linked with virtually every heroine he has worked with.  Apparently he was a hot item with big girl Rekha as well, they certainly sizzled together in Khiladion ke Khiladi.

He is married to Twinkle Khanna and has a four year old son Aarav.  There were rumours of breakup between them, when he was supposedly seeing Priyanka Chopra.  But the couple has survived that hiccup.

He has promoted Thums Up consistently and done many action oriented spots for them. His ad spot with cricketer Yuvraj Singh for Xbox 360 was a big hit.

His stage shows are always flamboyant and raise a lot of taalis.  It is a measure of his fitness that he can still go on with them while his contemperory actors have long retired from the demanding schedule of stage.

Special Note : Pinkbee wishes to thank Siddharth Tuli for valuable inputs.  He is a big fan of Akshay Kumar.

FILMOGRAPHY

• Made in China (2009) (pre-production) .... Sidhu
• >Tashan (2008) (filming)
• Welcome (2007/I) (post-production)
• Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) (completed)
• Heyy Babyy (2007)
• Namastey London (2007) .... Arjun Ballu Singh
• Bhagam Bhag (2006) .... Bunty
• Jaan-E-Mann: Let's Fall in Love... Again (2006) .... Agastya Rao
• Phir Hera Pheri (2006) .... Raju
• Humko Deewana Kar Gaye (2006) .... Aditya Malhotra
• Saathi.lkc">Mere Jeevan Saathi (2006) .... Vicky
• Family: Ties of Blood (2006) .... Shekhar Bhatia
• Dosti: Friends Forever (2005) .... Raj Malhotra
• Deewane Huye Paagal (2005) .... Rocky Hiranandani
• Garam Masala (2005) .... Mac
• Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005) .... Aditya Thakur
• Bewafaa.lkc">Bewafaa (2005) .... Raja
• Insan (2005) .... Amjad
• Saathiyo.lkc">Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo (2004) .... Major Rajeev Singh
• Aitraaz.lkc">Aitraaz (2004) .... Raj Malhotra
• Hatya: The Murder (2004) .... Ravi R. Lal
• Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004) .... Sunny
• Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin (2004) .... Inspector Ajay
• Aan: Men at Work (2004) .... DCP Hari Om Patnaik
• Police Force: An Inside Story (2004) .... Vijay Singh
• Khakhee (2004) .... Sr. Inspector Shekhar Verma
• Andaaz.lkc">Andaaz (2003) .... Raj Malhotra
• Talaash: The Hunt Begins... (2003) .... Arjun
• Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani (2002) .... Atul
• Deewana.lkc">Deewana.lkc">Awara Paagal Deewana (2002) .... Guru Gulab Khatri
• Aankhen.lkc">Aankhen (2002) .... Vishwas Prajapati
• Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya (2002) .... Raj Malhotra
• Ajnabee.lkc">Ajnabee (2001) .... Vikram Bajaj ((Vicky)
• Ek Rishtaa: The Bond of Love (2001) .... Ajay Kapoor
• Khiladi 420 (2000) .... Dev Kumar Malhotra
• Dhadkan (2000) .... Ram
• Hera Pheri (2000) .... Raju
• Jaanwar.lkc">Jaanwar (1999) .... Badshah/Bapu Lohar
• Sangharsh (1999) .... Professor Aman Varma
• Zulmi (1999) .... Raj
• International Khiladi (1999) .... Rahul 'Devraj'
• Aarzoo.lkc">Aarzoo (1999) .... Vijay Khanna
• Barood (1998) .... Jai Sharma
• Angaaray (1998) .... Amar
• Keemat: They Are Back (1998) .... Dev
• Aflatoon.lkc">Aflatoon (1997) .... Rocky/Raja/Parimal Chaturvedi
• Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) .... Ajay (Special Appearance)
• Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi (1997) .... Raja
• Tarazu (1997) .... Inspector Ram Yadav
• Daava (1997) .... Inspector Arjun
• Insaaf: The Final Justice (1997) .... Inspector Vikram Singh
• Lahoo Ke Do Rang (1997) .... Sikandar Davai
• Sapoot (1996) .... Prem
• Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996) .... Akshay Malhotra
• Tu Chor Main Sipahi (1996) .... Amar Varma
• Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995) .... Inspector Vijay Kumar/Lallu
• Maidan-E-Jung (1995) .... Karan Singh
• Paandav (1995) .... Inspector Vijay Kumar
• Hum Hain Bemisaal (1994) .... Vijay Sinha
• Zaalim (1994) .... Ravi
• Zakhmi Dil (1994) .... Jaidev Anand
• Nazar Ke Samne (1994) .... Jai Kumar
• Suhaag (1994) .... Raj
• Ikke Pe Ikka (1994) .... Rajiv
• Amaanat (1994) .... Amar
• Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994) .... Inspector Karan Joglekar
• Mohra (1994) .... Amar Saxena
• Jai Kishen (1994) .... Jai Verma/Kishen
• Yeh Dillagi (1994) .... Vijay Saigal
• Elaan (1994) .... Vishal Chaudhry
• Sainik (1993) .... Lieutenant Suraj Dutt
• Waqt Hamara Hai (1993) .... Vikas Kumar Sabkuchwala
• Kayda Kanoon (1993) .... Inspector Dawood 'D.D.' Durani
• Dil Ki Baazi (1993) .... Vijay
• Ashaant (1993) .... Vijay
• Deedar (1992) .... Anand K. Malhotra
• Khiladi (1992) .... Raj Malhotra
• Mr. Bond (1992) .... Mr. Bond
• Dancer (1991) .... Raju 'Raja'
• Saugandh (1991) .... Shiva