Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar
Akshay Kumar is famous and highly successful actor of the Bollywood film industry and also one of the highest paid actors in the country. An India born naturalized Canadian, Akshay was born as Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia on September 9, 1967. He was born in Amritsar, Punjab. His father was an army officer and Akshay travelled through the country. A sports aficionado and a blackbelt in Taekwondo, Akshay also travelled to Bangkok for his training in martial arts. He worked as a chef and a waiter in Bangkok. Akshay was not thinking about a career in films. Apart from a chef and a waiter, he also worked in a travel agency and also sold jewellery in Delhi before becoming a martial arts teacher in Bombay, which was his passion. It was during his classes that a student’s father recommended modelling to Akshay and then rest was history. He worked without pay to get his portfolio done by Jayesh Sheth and even worked as an ‘extra’ in some Bollywood dance numbers to get by. When he missed his flight for a modelling gig, he walked to a film studio with his portfolio and signed his first film – Deedar with producer Pramod Chakravarthy. He took on the screen name of Akshay Kumar and has been associated with Bollywood for 29 years now and has done over 100 films. Over the span of his career, the actor has seen some good successes and some major flops. In fact, at the beginning of his career, Akshay Kumar struggled to find a successful role. There were stretches in his career when all his movies flopped – one after another. Akshay made his debut with Saugandh in 1991 opposite Shantipriya and Rakhee. He also worked in Dancer which was released in the same year, but failed to make a mark. His first commercial success was Khiladi, a suspense thriller opposite Ayesha Jhulka in year 1992. After the movie he acted in some very forgettable movies like Mr. Bond, Deedar, Dil ki Baazi, Waqt Hamara Hain, etc., with no real success. His movie Main Khiladi Tu Anari, in which he worked with Saif Ali Khan in 1992 quickly followed by Mohra was a great success. In both the movies he portrayed the role of a serious and dutibound police officer with a short temper. An established action star, Akshay gained recognition for his romantic role in Yeh Dillagi opposite Kajol. The movie was a great box office hit and even won the actor his first nomination.
In the 90’s, Akshay struggled with his career but continued to draw crowds. By late 90s, he was able to revive his career with back to back successes. His foray in comedy after romantic and action roles won him accolades. With the turn of the millennium, Akshay Kumar had arrived on the Bollywood scene as one of the most successful actors. HE worked in Hera Pheri, Dhadkan, Ajnabee and many other successful movies. The latter won him his first Filmfare Award for Best Villain. 2007, however, was the most successful year for Kumar. He delievered four outright hits and no flops. From Namastey London, Heyy Baby, Bhool Bhulaiya and Welcome, Akshay was unstoppable. He continues to be a commercially successful actor and his movies have been doing extremely well at the box office. From the House Full series to films like Baby, Airlist, Toilet Ek Prem Katha, Akshay has portrayed a variety of roles, always adding more to his character. His next big release if Laxmi Bomb. The actor has confirmed an online release of the movie due to pandemic.
Akshay is married to Twinkle Khanna, daughter of late Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia. They have a son and a daughter together. He has one three awards including a National Award for his role in the movie Rustom. He was awarded a Padma Shri in 2009 and conferred an honorary doctorate in 2008 by the University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. Forbes counted him among the highest paid entertainers of the world for the years 2015 and 2019. Other than his acting, Akshay is also well known for his charity work and has been vocal about various causes.