“I have great respect for Sajid as a director and yes, I am looking forward to Housefull.”
For someone who has always taken pride in calling himself an entertainer, he is modest when asked to peg his entertainment quotient on a scale of ten. “Ohhh, my head isn’t big enough to answer that question, sorry!!! Actually you sound like my physiotherapist right now, who asks me, ‘How would you describe the pain on a scale of 1-10?’ So I’m going to give you the same answer I give him, ‘5’, then you can’t call me a wimp and you can’t call me a snob either for thinking that I’m some great entertainer. Remember, I ‘want to be’ an amazing entertainer, that doesn’t mean I am one yet. It’s the audience that takes that call, not me, I’m afraid!! So I’m sticking with a safe scale of ‘5’.”
Kumar, known for lending his star- power to films helmed by first-time directors (Heyy Babyy with Sajid Khan, Kambakkht Ishq with Sabbir Khan, Blue with Anthony D’Souza) is now keeping an even keel with a mix of old and new. So Anees Bazmee, Farah Khan, Nikhil Advani, Priyadarshan, Sajid Khan and Vipul Shah are part of the line-up this year though he assures you that he is not playing safe. “I have had some of biggest hits with new directors,” he’s quick to point out.
With actresses however, a new order seems to be falling in place. The actor is working opposite old favourite Katrina Kaif in Tees Maar Khan, but new actresses such as Anushka Sharma (in Patiala House) and Sonam Kapoor are now part of his new projects.
“I’m starring opposite the stunningly-beautiful Sonam Kapoor around April this year, our first-time on-screen together, (I don’t know who’s going to be more nervous!)… It’ll also be almost two years then since I’ve done a movie with Anees Bazmee. Now that is something I can’t wait to do.”
And while there are no new male actors that he is working with, plans of repeating the Garam Masala success with co-star John Abraham in a movie directed by newbie Rohit Dhawan are in place for his home banner Hari Om Productions, as also a sequel to Singh Is Kinng.
So what can the audience expect from his forthcoming films? “I am the one unique thing in each of them!!! Na, I’m just kidding, Sorry. I’ve been spending too much time with Sajid Khan lately!”
Continues Akshay, “Let me think… Housefull is going to make you laugh (ridiculously)…Action Replayy is going to make you say ‘Ahhhhhhhhh’ (in more ways than one). Patiala House is going to make you cry (so much that you are going to want to go back home to your mom and dad and tell them how much you love them). Khatta Meetha is going to make Priyadarshan win awards (and maybe me too!!) Now that would be unique! And Tees Maar Khan is going to make you say ‘WOW’ again and again.”
Kumar, who now produces movies under Hari Om Productions named after his father, dismisses industry talk about his enterprise as a way to cut costs - he ranks among the costliest stars in Bollywood, known to fly to shoots in chartered flights! “I am not irresponsible about the money I charge (my producers). And my production house was formed to make the kind of movies my father and I would have liked,” maintains Kumar.
Meanwhile Khatroein Ke Khiladi is set for a third season on Colors and this time around with cricketers though “dates have yet to be worked out.”
Admittedly, there is a lot at stake for the actor, but given the khiladi’s skills in riding the tide, a turnaround looks imminent.
