Action superstar Akshay Kumar and the Khiladi series!

Update: This super popular article on Akshay Kumar was first published on October 25 2012. With less than 24 hours for the release of Akshay’s latest films ‘Brothers’, which promises to take action to the next level, this article is a must read for our new visitors.

I still have vague impressions of me standing in scorching sun, with my younger brothers, in a long queue outside one of the premium single screen theatres at Kanpur. Most of those standing in line were kids like us who knew nothing about the film and had just come to watch an action hero from Bollywood battle WWE Legend ‘The UNDERTAKER’. 16 years later, today, that theatre has been transformed into a shopping mall, ‘The Dead Man’ is still unbeaten at WrestleMania (20-0) and ‘Akshay Kumar’ has become a ‘ROWDY Superstar’.

A thrilling screenplay in grandeur locale with sultry songs, hilarious sequences and death defying stunts a la the Bond series meets a Jackie Chan. That’s what Khiladi is. Recently, the teaser trailer of the eagerly anticipated Khiladi 786 was launched which declared Khiladi as “The Biggest Franchise of Indian Cinema”. We thought it can’t be a better time to peep into the past of Khiladi and analyze how true their claim is.

The Daredevil Khiladi

In an industry where action was always considered synonymous to muscular power (courtesy the Deol’s), Akshay Kumar made his own identity. He has made a huge contribution (particularly his Khiladi films) for the escalation of Martial Arts, Karate and Street Fighting in Bollywood. Whether his films were hit or flop, a tag which always remained with Akki was that of an Action Hero.

Today when almost all of his contemporaries (possibly barring Ajay Devgn) and even the gen-next stars depend upon harness, technology and body doubles for all action sequences, Akki takes an opposite route. In his own words at a recent press meet, Akshay said ‘The day I  find myself unable to do my own stunts, I will stop doing action films’. I guess that statement says it all. The Khiladi series is deficient without its action sequences.

TOP 3 Khiladi Action Scenes

Khiladi 420 - Statutory Warning: This isn’t a computer game, but a living man made of bone and flesh just like us standing over a glider in air. Those with weak hearts can skip watching this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JA7Ohqw0GE

Khiladiyo Ka Khiladi - This film is my most favorite from the Khiladi franchise. It boasts of countless jaw dropping stunts – Akki vs Undertaker fights (Kumar even broke his back while lifting ‘The Phenom’ during the pre-climax setting at the temple) ; Street Fight sequence which had Akshay playing with his favorite ‘Flying Kicks’ ; Roof blowing climax where Akki jumps from a bridge and gets crushed under an over craft . But my favorite is this martial art sequence where Akshay does a full split and kills Dang. Jai Mata Di!

Sabse Bada Khiladi – Akshay converted this airbase into his action playground during the climax of Sabse Bada Khiladi. Watch some never before seen stunts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIj9MG6A9Do

The Khiladi and his Seven Queens

Akshay has always been a ladies’ man. He had the privilege of working with a new heroine in each of the Khiladi films in the series. As Newton said, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, even Akshay had to face the side-effects in the form of rumors and allegations of linkups with almost all his leading ladies. From Ayesha Jhulka to Shilpa Shetty, Mamta Kulkarni or Raveena Tandon, not to forget yesteryear queen Rekha, he was in a way crowned as Bollywood’s Playboy by the media in the 90s.

But, as they say, the trees that are slow to grow and bear most adversities are the ones that produce the best fruits. Akshay Kumar got the love of his life, Twinkle Khanna, who starred opposite him in International Khiladi and both are happily married today. Now, one waits to see what sort of chemistry Akshay shares with Asin in Khiladi 786. The fact that they were accepted positively by the audience as a pair in Housefull 2 only increases the  excitement level of moviegoers.

Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hGUqU9htEE

In 2007-08, when Akshay was at the peak of his success, Colors Channel was launched. The TV Channel wanted to make an instant impact and thought of the Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi with the Khiladi himself. The show topped all TRP charts that year to provide a blockbuster launch for Colors and made it the No.1 TV Channel. Akki has hosted 3 out of 4 seasons of this tele-action series. Interestingly, the only unsuccessful season is the one where Akshay was excluded.

Khiladi: Box Office Scrutiny

Khiladi Films Box OfficeKhiladi Films Box Office

The Khiladi series has a fair Success Rate of around 57% (4 Hits out of 7) but it is certainly behind Munnabhai, Krrish, Golmaal, Housefull, Don and  Hera Pheri (each recording 100% Success). Though one can always argue my comparisons as all these franchises just have 2-3 films against 7 Khiladi movies. A key point which cannot be overlooked is that all of these films were released when Akshay was not a Superstar, but just an Action Hero. This very notion set the records pretty straight. If Khiladi 786 hits bull’s eye, it would undeniably take over the title of Numero Uno from Khiladiyo Ka Khiladi, which is the most successful film of the lot. Last word – Khiladi may not be the most successful but it’s definitely the biggest franchise in Bollywood.

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85 Comments

  • we cant consider khiladi as a franchise as each movie was different in terms of storyline. similarity was only the name “khiladi” in each title. each franchise has something in common like don, golmaal and munnabhai but there is nothing common in khiladi movies. two of them were action comedy one was comedy so how could one say that its a franchise nor produce by same producer or by same director.

  • OMGGGG. These are some mind boggling stunts. I had never seen them before. Has Akshay done more such stunts ? Please make an article with all his stunts. Plzz plzz

  • My favourite movie is khiladiyon ka khiladi from khiladi franchise it was mindblowing actions and stunts.but action is more suit to salman so in my openion salman is the king of action if you don,t believe then watch wanted also upcoming movies of salman has redifine actions and never seen before in bollywood type of actions.guaranteed

  • akshay has improved his acting abilities. initially he didnt know a,b,c,d of acting.. still his script choice is poor..

  • @jay, Salman a king of action??? He can’t do stunts on his own then how can u ever call Him a king of action?? The thing is Salman uses double body and then takes the credit from those people.
    Akshay is baap of action, agree or not I don’t care but its a fact.

  • @Desiboy.. no man salman only use body double in few scenes of ETT but in wanted, dabangg, bodyguard, also in ett his actions are amazing and it really suits him. side villian also did his own stunts.

    salman is real king of action and later you wait and watch salman’s next movies dabangg 2, sherkhan, kick will have out of the world action scenes.

  • What do I say about Akki? He has achieved it all by himself. From chef to a superstar. His stunts are superb and he’s easily one of the most courageous men in the industry.

    Even I remember watching some of his films like Mohra, Khiladi films of course. But I became an Akshay fan after watching Hera Pheri. Apart from his action skills, he has brilliant comic timing.. which not many actors can boast of.

    Comedy is the toughest part of acting and Akshay has the best comic timing in the industry. Hands down. He lacks a little in the romantic scenes…. otherwise he is a superb actor.

    Hope he works under a good director someday and gets his share of much-needed critical acclaim. He’s done half the job with OMG, now after Rowdy Rathore I wish he does some films which are sensible yet fun and entertaining.

  • difference between salman and akki is akki is a complete action hero. He has amazing Physique, He is tall which complement’s his action and machoness, He can kick ass ruthlesly with is fighting skills. he can perform death defyin stunts. Since he turned into a comedian to improve his acting skills, people forgot the once ass kickin akki. salman in 90s did no possess a big physiqe like now, Akki had that from his entry the height and Physique. Salman only started doing action from his near 50. What salman is benefitin is from technology, computerized and double.

  • “He lacks a little in the romantic scenes…. otherwise he is a superb actor.”

    that is false. He was given the complete hero tag long back in 2002. Infact his first 3 best actor nominations were in Romantic roles, Yeh dillagi and Dhadkan, Namastey london. Namastey london wud classify in Romantic drama as it was more a Romantic drama than a comedy film.

  • wow..smoething about khiladi series…great..kickass stunts and no one do the stunt like this only akki can.the father of actions and stunts..king of action and comedy…khiladi of bollywood..@abhishek this is not about salman vs akshay..this article is only about akshay..and,’akshay ko k.utta ni puchta’..yes,you are right,akshay ko k.utta nahin puchta because he has millions of fans and dogs can’t speak so they can’t ask about akshay.may be salman ko sirf k.utta hi puchta he.

  • @Indicine: First of all, thank you for such a wonderful article… really it was nice to read it all…. Akki is one of those rare people in the industry without having any godfather, he has come up this stage with his own ability which makes him a different personality amongst others…. :) AKKI U ROCK>>>> <3 all d best

  • akshay is lucky i think evn saif is better at doing serious roles like langda tyagi but akki got comedy timing which actors like srk,sallu lack esp srk dont knw hw to do comedy..cming khiladi franshise i dont think it is best one..dhoom,munna bhai series is best..

  • i like all the khiladi movies. but main khiladi i like very much. KKK superrrrrrrrrrrrrr. khiladi 786 will be block buster. no one can stop akshay 2012- 2013-2014

  • not a long ago in an interview akshay kumar told he dont believe in beating 10 or 20 people, i think at the time of chandni chowk to china released not sure…look what he done in rowdy rathode it means he is not a man of his word..now he is saying he will stop acting when he cant do stunt by himself..i dont believe him

  • @soroop may be you have some problem in reading or understanding.he didn’t said i will stop acting,he said i will stop action movies.read it again.and talking about beating 10 or 20 people and all that.well,do you have any proof about this one???

  • There will be a time akki won’t do stunts or martial art’s. U hav to look at his age now. He is 46 and not young anymore.

  • While i have liked the khiladi series i don’t think much of the 786 trailer. I was really expecting the khiladi type masala action. but this trailer has the south Indian type action. a kick destroying a car and throwing everyone out. come on khiladi you can do better than that

  • @rl: it was a guest appearance u moron.then compare srk with akki in heyy babyy..srk is nothing.and here pls dont compare..its about action movies, not romance, so pls dont talk about srk who is a child in action nor he cant, thats why ra.one flopped!!coming back to article, all of you have to understand barring abbas-mustan akki worked with all newcomer directors to deliver the above superhits. no other actor will have the guts to do that. and indicine, pls make corrections..in this khiladi series 2 were blockbusters and 2 superhits.khiladi was not semi-hit..it was that years blockbuster.

  • enjoyd readng d article……….all 3 videos r must watch………….spclly for sm spcl ppl who likes themselves 2 b calld d LAST ACTION HERO by sm rickshaw pullers……..

  • m not an akki fan but v all mst admit dat he indeed z d baap of action and comedy…….plus he also possess fine acting skills…..sangharsh,jaanwar,namastey london,jaan-e-mann,etc being jst a few xamples……….n i dun wanna hrt nebdy bt time will tell dat who will be ruling d box office 5 years from now………luking at akki’s physique n stamina……. not surprisingly in nxt 5 years he cud b d only actor frm hz age grp 2 b competng wid all d youngsters

  • I m telling u first i was big support of Sallu in wanted, he kick tools in garage..bt then i realised he is doing fake stunts and i m down wid bhai now..i don’t know if akki is also fooling ppl? if not i respect and if yes i think we don’t care buddies..My favorite Hero List :-

    Action : RajKumar
    Romance : Rajendra Kumar
    Comedy : Utpal Dutt

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