31 years of Akshay Kumar: The action star who defies stereotypes to be the poster boy of patriotism

Early film choices indicate the path an actor will follow during the course of his career. However, Akshay Kumar First there is a bore of water which used to work on the stereotypes and later broke them. In a career spanning over three decades so far, he has been a trusted star of Bollywood with rare slippages at the box office.

In the early 90s, he became an action star and earned the nickname ‘Khiladi’. In the later decade, he won the hearts of fans as the romantic hero who can make you laugh with his jagged smile. When the industry was eager to position him as the quintessential romantic hero, he chose another path and started doing films with a patriotic spirit. The prolific star, who has acted in more than a hundred films till now, has given various tags to his audience to put on himself, but he did not fall in the mold even once.

Khiladi Kumar – The Action Hero

Akshay made his debut in Hindi cinema with Saugandh in 1991. But it was his performance in the suspense thriller Khiladi a year later that turned the tide for him. The superhit film gave him the tag of Khiladi of Bollywood. His quick moves, rough and ready appearance and meticulous action sequences earned him a reputation and justified that title. Subsequent releases like Deedar, Lahu Ke Do Rang, Insaaf, Dawa, Tarazoo, Angare, Barood, Zulmi and Jaanwar brought his martial arts expertise to the fore.

Akshay’s comical twist

While the audience was still loving the action avatar of ‘Khiladi’, Akshay was clearly moved on. Earlier in the media interaction, he talked about the comedy genre to break away from the action hero image. Emphasizing on the importance of reinvention, he had said, “I felt it (the need to reinvent) long back because in the early days I used to do only action films. I was known as an action hero. In fact, When I used to get it. Every morning, I would know that I have to go on the sets and do action. I used to get bored and think ‘what am I doing just by doing action’.”

“I tried doing different things. At that time, people used to say ‘tu comedy will not do’. But Priyadarshanji and Rajkumar Santoshiji gave me a break in comedy, and they got me into it.”

In 2000, he acted in the Priyadarshan directed comedy Hera Pheri and Dharmesh Darshan directed love triangle Dhadkan. The following year he played a negative role in Ajnabee which earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Villain. He acted in hit films like Aitraaz, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Singh Is Kinng, Garam Masala, Welcome, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Hey Baby and Namastey London.

patriotic poster boy in bollywood

Today Akshay readily takes up films that showcase patriotism and nationalism apart from films with socially relevant themes. Looking at the last decade, Akshay has done at least one film since 2012 which includes OMG- Oh My God!, Special 26, Holiday, Airlift, Rustom, Jolly LLB, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Padman, Gold, Kisari, Titles included. Mission Mangal and recently released Bell Bottom and Sooryavanshi. In all these films, he has declared India’s superiority in one way or the other, executing one or the other interpretation of the ‘son of the soil’ unattainable by mere will power. This has earned them profits at the ticket window.

With over 50 films in Akshay Kumar’s filmography as runaway hits, it is best to assume that he must have done something right. Well, he is on his way to success with his upcoming release. His calendar is expanding with films lined up for release, most notably Bachchan Pandey, Prithviraj, Ram Setu, Gorkha and Raksha Bandhan. He is also going to appear in his first web series The End for Amazon Prime Video.