I had taken a long break from action films. In fact, this action character in Rowdy Rathore is different from the others that I have done. This is more raw action, not the martial arts kind of action I am more used to,” says Akshay.
Was this then more challenging? “Life is about challenges. Whenever we are associated with new films, we look forward to bringing it to people with a difference. When we talk about action, we need to change its representation as well. As with any genre, we learn a lot while working on action sequences. Learning is a never-ending process. Adapting to the latest trends is what we must do,” he says.
While Akshay doing action is not surprising, we do admit to being surprised by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s association with this film: Sanjay is co-producer for Rowdy Rathore. “Actually Prabhudeva (the director) was telling me that Sanjay called him and asked him to do an action-packed film. It is not as if a person associated with the romantic genre does not appreciate action films,” Akshay notes.
This is Akshay’s first film with Sonakshi Sinha, although he’s also doing Joker with her. What kind of a co-star is she? “We have to keep saying ‘khamosh’ to her once she starts talking or she could talk to her heart’s content. Actually, she is very hard-working, disciplined and highly professional. And she represents Indian beauty very well,” he says with a smile.
This has been a good year for Akshay, with Housefull 2 having crossed `100 crore in collections. Is he glad to have put the lean period behind him? “Who does not go through a lean period? I was never deterred by it. We need to learn and go forward with the flops and the hits. Brightness follows every dark period. All we need to do is go on working,” he says.
Commenting on current box-office trends, he says, “We all work so that we can make money and lead a happy life. What is different these days is that the money put into a film is exorbitant, so returns also have to reach `100-200 crore. Earlier, films would run for months together and then celebrate their silver jubilee. But today it takes just three days to celebrate a success party.”
Even in the light of new trends, Akshay believes we must not forget those that have gone before, trendsetters all. “We should respect earlier filmmakers as they must have faced so many difficulties yet they slowly and gradually progressed in the profession of filmmaking and gave us this inheritance on a platter. We need to thank them for it and follow in their footsteps like good sons and daughters,” he observes.
We cannot resist asking him what he thought of the Shah Rukh Khan-MCA incident given we saw him with the actor catching another IPL match in Pune later. Diplomatically he notes, “I was with Shah Rukh in Pune. He is a fine person. I do not think he was acting out his frustration in Mumbai. In fact, some things are often portrayed completely different from the truth. We all make mistakes; some people are just unfortunate to have it misrepresented as well, while some get away with it. Haan, main kuch galat karte huye pakda nahi gaya… so I may have escaped such controversy. I am lucky. I feel there is no real wrong and right. Everything is situational in such conditions.”
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