From action to comedy: How Akshay reinvented himself

Akshay Kumar says he realised the importance of reinvention when he got stuck with the action hero image in the initial stage of his career. “I realised it (the need to reinvent) long back, because in the initial days I used to do only action films. I was known as an action hero. In fact, when I used to get up every morning, I would know I had to go on the set and do action. I used to get bored and used to think ‘what am I doing by just doing action’,” Akshay said.

He recalls using comedy to break away from the stereotype, and then also explored rom-com space. “I tried doing different things. At that time, people used to say ‘ tu comedy nahi kar payega (you won’t be able to do comedy)’. But Priyadarshanji and Rajkumar Santoshiji gave me my break in comedy, and they got me into it,” he said. On the work front, Akshay’s kitty is full with Sooryavanshi, Bell Bottom, Prithviraj, Bachchan Pandey, Atrangi Re, Raksha Bandhan and Ram Setu.