Akshay Kumar is working to build a brand India and not a brand Akshay. All this while, when promoting his upcoming, GOLD, the actor has maintained how his image of a patriotic man on-screen is just to help our audience know our country better. He says there are so many interesting stories that audience don't know about and only films can portray them.
Talking to a leading daily in another promotional interview, Akshay mentioned about balancing his choice of films. He said for every film with 'jingoism', he does a 'Housefull', which is all about fun and entertainment. Akshay has a nice story to tell as the reason behind doing the kind of films he does.
He narrated, "I can’t leave those films either (films like Housefull). I need those, too. And I will be doing such movies every once in a while. When I started my career, for about 15 years I suffered as the media only called me an ‘action hero’. I used to ask producers to give me a comic role or a romantic character or even a serious part".
He added, "After a long time, filmmaker Priyadarshan gave me a chance with Hera Pheri (2000) and later Dharmesh Darshan gave me Dhadkan in the same year. When I tasted success during this phase, I swore that I will never let anyone tag me or stereotype me. So, I continue to dabble in genres".
Akshay also mentioned that he wants to bring the "history textbooks alive". He said, "I want to bring the history textbooks alive. Take Airlift, for example. Before the film was announced, did you know that 1,72,000 Indians were airlifted and brought back to their homeland from under the nose of Saddam Hussein after his Iraqi army invaded Kuwait? Back then, barely a couple of articles were published. But after the film released, thousands were written".
He went further, "It’s a known and proven fact that visuals will remain in your memory for a longer period of time than the written word. That’s the whole idea behind making a film like Airlift. I consider myself lucky to get such subjects".
This man always makes sense!