Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, playfully known as Hindi cinema’s original ‘Khiladi’, has hit a career milestone this year as he completes thirty years in the entertainment business. It’s a humongous deal in an industry that takes pride in being a conveyor belt for talents — new and old. Change may be the only constant in Bollywood, but Kumar is one of the sturdiest stars that has endured for a long time.
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Kumar, who began his career with a string of action-oriented roles, has constantly re-invented himself and perhaps that’s his biggest currency till date. He can do comedy, drama, action and sobering cinema with aplomb. Here’s a look at some of our all-time favourites of Kumar …
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Khiladi: Every actor has one movie that altered his career. For Deepika Padukone, it was director Homi Adjania’s ‘Cocktail’ and for Kumar that breakthrough came with this 1992 murder mystery. Directed by duo Abbas-Mustan, Kumar plays a college hunk who stages his friend’s kidnapping as a prank, but things go terribly awry when she dies on their watch. Then the film morphs into an exciting whodunit. Also starring Ayesha Jhulka and Deepak Tijori, it was Kumar who spearheaded this film. Re-visit it to learn about how it all started for Kumar.
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Yeh Dillagi: This iconic romance was a frustrating love triangle featuring two brothers -- with contrasting personalities -- who fall in love with the same woman played effectively by Kajol. While Kumar's played the dutiful and responsible sibling, Saif Ali Khan was the rakish flirt. Remember it's a '90s film and some of the courtship dynamics may feel outdated and archaic but watching these two heroes dance to 'Ole Ole' and 'Hothon Pe Bas' is still worth our time.
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Mohra: This is the ultimate masala entertaining featuring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Raveena Tandon and Naseeruddin Shah. Kumar plays a hunky cop, Inspector Amar Saxena, who's on a mission to thwart evil. But if that doesn't rock your boat, watching Kumar and Tandon gyrate in the rain as 'Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast' might just do the trick.
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Special 26: When it comes to ensemble thrillers, nobody does it better than Kumar. Directed by Neeraj Pandey, it’s a heist thriller in which Kumar plays an ace conman. Based on a real-life heist in 1987, the movie chronicles how a group of robbers walk into a jewelry store in Mumbai and take off with loot worth millions. A determined cop, played brilliantly by Manoj Bajpayee, is close on their heels, but the chase is what make this film brilliant. Don’t’ be hard on yourself if you end up cheering for the robbers instead of the upright law-enforcement officers.
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Good Newwz: When it comes to comedy, nobody does it better than Kumar. This wacky caper follows two fetching married couples with the same family name, the Batras, who find themselves sharing bodily fluids involuntarily when a technician at their common fertility clinic injects the wrong sperm into the eggs provided by the women, played by Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kiara Advani. It’s a bizarre mix-up that appears fun only in films and director Raj Mehta extracts every bit of juice from this novel, insane idea. Kumar is in his element here and has a sparking chemistry with Kapoor Khan. The outlandish situations could have only been pulled off by an actor with Kumar’s calibre.
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Mission Mangal: It’s not often that a Bollywood A-lister like Kumar supports a female-led narrative. But Kumar showed his confidence as an actor when he played a supporting role in a film that was female-fronted by talents including Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu and Sonakshi Sinha. The film was an engaging fictionalised account of India’s successful mission of sending their satellite to Mars by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scientists and technicians and Kumar shone, even in the shadows. How many A-listers in Bollywood can vouch that they lend their star power and presence in a movie led by women? Kumar is in that minority.
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Garam Masala: This comedy about two compulsive daters (Kumar and John Abraham) conning unsuspecting women wouldn’t have many takers in today’s times, but they made it work when it released in 2005. In this crazy comedy, Kumar finds himself dating three air hostesses even though he is engaged to wed another woman. It’s a comedy of errors that underline Kumar’s impeccable comic timing. His character is a hopeless cad, but the actor makes his flaws and questionable moral fibre endearing.
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Pad Man: Produced by his author-wife Twinkle Khanna, ‘Pad Man’ features Kumar as an idealistic health crusader and endearing activist Arunachalam Muruganatham. Inspired by a true-life hero who championed the cause of menstrual hygiene and access to cheap sanitary pads, Kumar made this film highly watchable. If you are in the mood for a stirring, uplifting drama about doing great good, then this film is right up your street.
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Toilet: Ek Prem Katha: There was a point in Kumar’s career when he forgot being an entertainer and developed this crusader complex who played evangelical roles. This film was one such example where Kumar takes a nick at the practice of open defecation in India and his struggle to build a toilet for his new bride (an on-point Bhumi Pednekar). Though his intention was noble, the film morphed into a didactic crash course on the existing government’s noble attempts at providing toilets across India and to highlight the narrow-mindedness among Indians who are shackled by cultural and religious beliefs. But you have to hand it to Kumar for trying to change the world, one propaganda film at a time.
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Airlift: Shot extensively in Ras Al Khaimah dressed up as Kuwait, ‘Airlift’ was set against the backdrop of the 1990 Gulf War when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and the issue of civilian displacement. Kumar plays a Gulf-based Indian businessman Ranjit Katyal who spearheads an evacuation in Kuwait. Along with the help of the Indian government and a motley of brave Indian civilians, Katyal shepherds 88 Air India flights over 59 days and successfully executes the largest human evacuation in history. The film was intriguing on many levels and Kumar was on top of his game here. Watch this film to see this seasoned actor nail the dramatic scenes in which he is trying to understand the human suffering caused by strife and war.
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