Film industry is no ‘sone ki chidiya’: Akshay Kumar

Actor Akshay Kumar (below) says it is a misconception that the film industry is very profitable and wealthy, but that it needs several hits to avoid its current losses. His patriotic drama Airlift performed well at the box office and the actor hopes that it does better.

“I hope this continues every week because people have this misconception that the industry is a ‘sone ki chidiya’ (golden bird). According to me, this industry is striving on very few hits. I hope the industry receives several hits because this industry has the capability to give you a lot. But at the moment, the industry is going through loss,” he said.

Akshay, 48, has been a consistent performer at the box office over the years, delivering three to four films a year. While most of his films do well, even the ones which don’t live up to expectations recover costs.

Last year, all of his four films — Baby, Brothers, Gabbar Is Back and Singh Is Bling — earned close to ` 100 crore at the box office.

Akshay said it would be great if Airlift is declared tax-free, but added that he wasn’t aware of such a development till now.

“Such films usually reach only a certain point — like 40 crore to 60 crore — because they don’t have songs, there’s no commercial aspect to them, no item songs and no comedy ... I’m very happy that I got the opportunity of doing the film.”