Akshay Kumar says he is more interested in reaching out to people with his upcoming film, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, than garnering box-office business.
He says the distributor has applied for tax exemption for the film.
During the trailer launch of the film in Mumbai on Thursday, when the star was asked about revenues, Kumar said: “I am interested in more eyeballs than the box-office collection.
“In fact, I wish the ticket price of this film to be low so that more people can go and watch the film. Around 54 per cent people in our country have no access to toilets. So my concern is to make people aware of the issue. They should go and watch the film rather than [we] count on the box office collection.”
Asked about a bid to make the film tax free, Kumar said: “So far there is no confirmation, but yes, the Viacom18 people [the distributors of the film] applied for tax exemption. Let’s see what happens.”
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is about the importance of sanitation.
Once known as Bollywood’s action star, Kumar has of late been working on movies with social messages. But he says he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed. “I don’t want to have any kind of image. I just want to keep on trying everything. When I entered the industry, people called me an action hero.
“Then, I tried other things, they called me comedian and romantic hero. Then I did villain roles, now people are saying that I am doing social films. I just don’t want to have an image.
“I just want to keep on trying different things,” said Kumar, who received an Indian National Award for his performance in Rustom.
Kumar added that though his film Toilet is set in the rural milieu, it is more relevant for the urban crowd than rural people.
“The issue of open defecation is not just a rural problem. It is a huge problem in big cities, too, and it is more dangerous in big cities rather than villages, because we live in a concrete jungle, so germs and bacteria spread faster here.
“Don’t think for a moment that this movie is for villages. It is for urban people too because we are in more danger than them.”
The film also stars Bhumi Pednekar and Anupam Kher.
It is out in India on August 11.
