January 25, 1991. This was the day when a film titled Saugandh released. Even though there was not much hype around its leading actor Akshay Kumar back then, this was still a reasonably well mounted project. Rakhee led from the front as the woman with vengeance in her mind, Mukesh Khanna flipped over his Bheeshma pitamaha image (courtesy Mahabharata) to emerge as the villain and Raj Sippy, who was one of the top masala films director at that time, was behind the camera. Oh yes, the film also marked the Bollywood debut of south siren Shantipriya.
The film released though it could not cover much of a distance. Unlike Aamir Khan (Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak), Salman Khan (Maine Pyaar Kiya), Shah Rukh Khan (Deewana) and Ajay Devgn (Phool Aur Kaante) who had started their mainstream Bollywood career as a leading man with a big hit, there was not much noise around Akshay Kumar.
In fact, while he continued to feature in films like Dancer, Mr. Bond, Dil Ki Baazi and Kaayda Kanoon - none of which did well, his counterparts like Rahul Roy, Ronit Roy, Kamal Sadanah, Sumeet Sehgal and Prithvi were much in demand. These were the actors who had started their career in parallel largely in romantic tales and hence also benefitted from some chartbuster songs.
This is where Akshay started working on a unique value proposition - action - something that not just made him stand out as a star but also allowed a longevity in his career.
Khiladi, which came in between his initial strings of flops, had all the elements of a masala entertainer and once Sajid Nadiadwala brought him on board for Waqt Hamara Hai, the ball started rolling.
From there to now Bachchan Pandey, it has been one action filled journey for the 53-year-old actor and though in the decade gone by he has diversified all the more into playing ‘characters’ rather than a quintessential ‘hero’, the decisions that he took at the beginning of the 90s allowed him to get into a formidable situation in the years that followed.
What also goes in favour of the superstar is that he is someone who has continuously changed gears decade after decade as per the demand of the situation. Not to be resting on his laurels, every serious string of flops has only made him change his modus operandi and come back stronger.
As a result, if 90s was largely about action, the start of the new millennium saw him get into the comedy zone, after Hera Pheri. The start of the new decade post 2010 may not have been the most fruitful for him but he continued to mix the likes of Housefull and Rowdy Rathore with OMG: Oh My God and Special 26, hence bringing a large variety into play.
No wonder, last couple of years he has peaked, and how, with 2019 - the last good year for theatrical releases - seeing him deliver three 200 crore hits, something that no other superstar has managed till date. The fact that Mission Mangal, Housefull 4 and Good Newwz were all so different from each other helped as well and with Kesari too going past the 150 crores mark, it was the emergence of the bonafide superstar who was not just being consistent but also bringing in heavy numbers.
Notwithstanding his only release in 2021, Laxmmi, which saw straight to OTT release, distributors and exhibitors are eyeing an opening of theatres to fill capacity so that they can kickstart their “Akshay Kumar Film Festival”.
After all, there are over half a dozen films at different stages of production already in the pipeline and it’s just a matter of floodgates to open up eventually.
From starting his career with Saugandh, Dancer, Mr. Bond, Dil Ki Baazi and Kaayda Kanoon to now being responsible for the churning of over 1500 crores at the box office with announced films like Sooryavanshi, Bell Bottom, Prithviraj, Bachchan Pandey, Atrangi Re, Rakshabandhan and Ram Setu, there is a lot riding at Akshay Kumar. He has come a long way indeed after being around for three decades and if the crown of 'One-Man Industry' is firmly placed over his head, it is for a good reason and a purpose.
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