Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar feels the recent suicide by farmer Gajendra Singh at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in Delhi is “disheartening” and that society has forgotten about the kisan (farmer) in India’s “jai jawan jai kisan” (Hail the soldier, hail the farmer) catchphrase.
“The recent suicide by a farmer is very sad and disheartening. I have heard the saying jai jawan jai kisan, but now I feel that we have taken out the kisan part from the famous slogan,” Kumar told reporters in Noida, where the 47-year-old actor was promoting his upcoming film, Gabbar is Back, which deals with corruption.
“The corruption issues, which we are featuring in the film, are all real issues and I am just fighting with them without disclosing the real names in the film. Corruption is a very relatable issue in our country as we all have dealt with it at some point of our life,” he said.
Produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Gabbar is Back is written by filmmaker A R Murugadoss of Holiday and Ghajini fame.
Telugu filmmaker Krish, also known as Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi, is making his debut in Bollywood with the movie, releasing on May 1.
Denying the reports of the film being the sequel of hit 1975 film Sholay, Kumar said they have only retained the name of the most popular villain Gabbar, played by Amjad Khan, in the movie.
“Gabbar is a known villain in our Hindi cinema industry and the film is not a sequel of Sholay. In Sholay, Gabbar fights with the good human beings, but in Gabbar is Back he kills only the bad men,” he said.
To don the titular character of the movie, the Baby star had to put on 16kg.
“I was playing a damdar [weighty] role, and to get fit into the role, I had to put on 15-16kg, and it was difficult for me. I did all the stunts in the film by myself and no computer graphics were used in the film. The whole approach towards the film was very difficult,” he said.
Gabbar is Back also stars Shruti Haasan opposite Kumar. Haasan is playing the role of a junior lawyer in the film.
