What is stardom, asks Akki

It’s the content, not actors, that spur a film’s success. Writers are the biggest stars, their work wins recognition for actors, he says

“I’M ALWAYS LOOKING FOR GOOD CINEMA –— SCREENPLAY, STORY AND A WELLWRITTEN SCRIPT — THAT’S ALL I LOOK AT. IT’S NOT ABOUT EARNING MONEY; IT’S ALL ABOUT WHAT DIFFERENT CINEMA I CAN TAKE FORWARD. I DON’T LIKE TO REPEAT ANYTHING. IF I DO A SOORYAVANSHI, THEN THE NEXT FILMS ARE PRITHVIRAJ AND BACHCHAN PANDEY, THAT BELONG TO DIFFERENT GENRES

Akshay Kumar, known as Khiladi Kumar, has worked very hard. Today, he is known for choosing films with great content that send meaningful messages to audiences.

Akshay releases approximately 4-5 films a year. He has made it a practice to begin shooting for a film after the release of his previous one. Having starred in so many successful films, Akshay Kumar does not believe in stardom, nor does he believe that films run because of stars. In a recent ‘walk-and-talk’ encounter, the actor talked of his mantra for good cinema and shared his views on the effect of stardom on box office success.

When asked if he agrees that stardom is important for the film industry’s existence, he shot back,

“What is stardom? I don’t think any such thing exists. I believe in content. I think writers are the biggest stars. They actually make a star — that is what I feel. Audiences have matured and they enter the theatres to watch different stories. Writers pen effective lines for actors to be able to perform their characters. If lines are not written well, do you think audiences would like it? Writers like Javed [Akhtar] saab and many others have written lines which are memorable. And thus stars get recognition.”*