Akshay Kumar’s Singh is Bling crosses the 100-crore mark worldwide. Here’s a flashback on the life and work of the never-say-die B-Town hero:
Mad about martial arts
Born in Amritsar and brought up in Mumbai, Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia dropped out of college and decided he just wanted to master martial arts. He got a black belt in Taekwondo and then went to further his skills in Bangkok, where he learned Muay Thai. During this time he also worked as a chef and waiter. He returned to India and began teaching martial arts and that’s when he sent off his portfolio to an agency and bagged a modelling assignment.
Image courtesy: facebook.com/akshaykumarofficial
Early films & the Khiladi series
His first lead role was in the 1991 release Saugandh. He then featured in Dancer and Deedar, which didn’t quite set the box-office on fire. Then came Abbas-Mustan’s Khiladi and Akshay Kumar got his big break. In fact, all the early Khiladi films went on to become hits, establishing Akshay Kumar as a bankable star.
The romantic hero
While Akshay Kumar was initially cast mainly in action roles, he also established his credentials as romantic hero in films such as the Yash Chopra production, Yeh Dillagi, in which he starred with Kajol. He also won a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Dil Toh Pagal Hai. In real life, Akshay romanced a bevy of Bollywood beauties, including Raveena Tandon and Pooja Batra, before tying the knot with Twinkle Khanna.
Image courtesy: facebook.com/akshaykumarofficial
King of comedy
Akshay Kumar’s flair for comedy has seen him star in a huge number of comic films, something Bollywood’s top heroes aren’t prone to doing. And it’s proved to be his ticket to success. Housefull, Singh is Kinng, Welcome and Hera Pheri have proved that the audiences love to see Akshay Kumar being funny.
Best films
While Akshay Kumar has had his share of hits and misses, he’s also done some truly enjoyable films. These include Waqt: The Race Againts Time, Khakee, Aankhen, Ajnabee, in which he played a negative character, and what we think is his very best, Baby.
Image courtesy: 977mag.com
Discipline does it
Akshay Kumar is known as one of the fittest, most disciplined leading men of Bollywood. He is known, famously, to wake up at 4.30 a.m, starting his day with swimming, yoga, workouts and heading out to shoot. He doesn’t party too often, stays away from processed foods and doesn’t believe in shortcuts. So that, as they say, is the secret of his success.
