Is Akshay Kumar a threat to the top spot?

An analysis on Akshay Kumar’s career by Indicine reader Abhishek Sharma.

Akshay Kumar has been around in the industry for 20 years now and the count of his successful movies would most definitely be greater than those of Khan’s but he has never posed a serious threat to any of the reigning Khan’s for the top Spot. Let us try to figure out the reason with a brief analysis of Khiladi’s career.

He tasted super success at a very early stage of his career with Khiladi, Mohra, Yeh Dillagi and Waqt Hamara hai. The name Khiladi became his key to success and he utilized it to the max with movies like Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Sabse Bada Khiladi and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi. But Akshay then was never considered to be a contender for the top spot which was fought between Shahrukh Khan, Sunny Deol, Aamir Khan, Govinda and Salman Khan.

Then came his bad phase in the late 90s. His movies having repeated action stunts failed miserably. But he kept trying and in the year 2000 he was back with Hera Pheri, Dhadkan and Khiladi 420. Comedy, Drama and Action in the same year worked well for him. Slowly he started getting the big movies from big banners. Akshay climbed the success ladder, slowly but steadily and he really peaked during the 2006-2008 period. It started with Mujhse Shaadi Karogi and he followed it up with Aitraaz, Waqt, Garam Masala, Phir Hera Pheri, Bhagam Bhaag, Namaste London, Heyy Babby, Bhool Bhulaiyan, Welcome and Singh Is Kinng. All the movies (with all their flaws) went on to become huge hits and Akki’s presence itself became a guarantee to Box Office success.

But his bad choice of movies brought him down again. Although these movies recovered it’s investment, they could not achieve what was expected out of them. Chandni Chowk to China, Tasveer 8×10, Blue, Kambakht Ishq, De Dana Dan, Khatta Meetha, Tees Maar Khan, Patiala House , Thank You and Desi Boyz. Housefull was his only success during this period.

Now with the success of Housefull 2 and the super success of Rowdy Rathore, Akshay is back in serious business. But the question remains : Will he be able to maintain this or take this to another level or just like in the past – throw it away given his choice of movies.

Some positive and negative factors about him that quickly come to mind are mentioned below:

  • Super Fit (Positive): Given his dedication combined with superb physique, he can accomplish tough roles with ease and thats the reason why Akshay is able to complete movies well ahead of time.
  • Successful Partnership with Big Names (Positive): Akshay is one of the very few stars, who has maintained success and healthy relation and is working with very big names of the industry. Be it Sajid Nadiadwala, Sajid Khan, Sanjay Bhansali, Anees Bazmee, Vipul Shah, Priyadarshan, Milan Luthria, Abbas Mustan,Farah Khan or Yashraj, Akshay has worked with all.
  • Number of Movies (Negative): While all the major stars ( 3 Khans and Hrithik), are sticking to 1-2 releases in a year, Akshay still is having 4 releases every year.
  • Craze for next release (Negative): When compared to the craze which is around Ek Tha Tiger, Dabangg 2, SRK’s next, Talaash, Dhoom 3 and Krrish 3, Akshay’s future releases have relatively less awareness. One factor can be the number of films he has signed and other can be fan following.

So is Akshay a real threat to the top spot or not ?

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103 Comments

  • Hi Abhishek..

    Nice article and I agree with you on several points that you make. I would love to post my analysis also, but could you actually prove one point that you make?

    In the very first line you mention that “the count of his successful movies would most definitely be greater than those of Khan’s” — can you actually prove that? I don’t think his success ratio is close to any of the three Khans.

  • Akshay has always been a very underrated actor. He has tremendous potential. I guess his only slight weakness is in romantic roles, he just cant emote that well. Apart from that, he is leagues ahead of everyone else in comedy and action.

    Can he take the top spot? Like you said it depends on the choice of films. He should ideally cut down from 4 to 3 films a year and try and improve the quality of his films. He should stop working with flop directors. He gave so many chances to Nikhil Advani and every film failed. Now he is doing the same with Anthony D’Souza.. the director of Blue.

    Flops dont affect Akki but he should be careful and he is growing old. He cant afford another lull like the 2009-2011 period. He is close to the top right now and his next two releases look promising.

  • after mr,bachan he is the only actor who can play any kind of rool.the only problem with him that he do 4movies per year. he has to chose movie very carefully.

  • i think top spot doesn.t matter at all fr the actors like akshay n salman as they have the most large fan following in india
    the rewards of the crowd is the top spot in india which both of them getting ryt nw

  • @vinay bro. this is not about all time block buster.he is a n bankbal star.even he is bad films recoverd it’s price.for example. tmk. kbe.ddd.km.

  • I enjoy Akshay movies for his natural action sequence. He has the height and looks to have gone further in the industry. He should stick to 1-2 films per year, choose better scripts and directors, not allow his wife to get involved in the choice of female leads or scripts.

  • no chance .,.hahahaha.,.,
    mohra ,.multistarar.,.mai khiladi tu anari
    rr his first solo bb he yr hahaha

  • He is a damn good actor.it will take time .he will be in the top 3 but top abhi to sallu ko harana muskil hi nahi namumkin he.

  • Nice article,but i like the comic role akshay, bcoz his comic timing is outstanding, but his choosing of film isn’t good, so i think he should remain in the top five aftr 3khan & hritik

  • Manav,

    Here I have mentioned the count of successful movies which I believe is definitely more than Khans. Though the magnitude of success is more in case of Khans as they have given mega hits.

    Akshay’s successful movies are : Khiladi, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Mohra, Suhaag, Yeh Dillagi, Waqt Hamara Hai, Sabse Bada Khiladi, Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi, International Khiladi, Dhadkan, Hera Pheri, Aawara Pagal Deewana, Ek Rishta, Andaaz, Ajnabee, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Aitraaz, Garam Masala, Waqt, Phir Hera Pheri, Bhagam Bhaag, Namaste London, Heyy Baby, Bhool Bhulaiya, Welcome , Singh is King, Housefull, Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore.

    I am not sure if I have included all or not. But this is close to 30 which is a great number and more than those of Khans.

    Abhishek Sharma

  • He is good but khans and hrithik are in different league and their are two things in bollywood eg: akshay good actor but not superstar for me same as salman not good actor but superstar

  • for me he is the number one super star of bollywood.for all those people who are putting R. Roshan in the top5 they are stupid. bec Roshan only depend on his dad. he is nothing with out his dad and he is look. he dose not look like indian. he is ok for movies like krish just to entertain kids. Ajay in 100 times better than him

  • I don’t take this article seriously but one thing must sure that he will be the first superstar having three films which is above 100 Crores earnings!!!

  • @Rajpal i know you don’t like Hrithik!!Each and everybody knows that Hrithik’s four films(Dhoom2,Jodha-Akbar,ZNMD and Agneepath) are huge blockbuster!!All three films are not in his dad direction so how can you say that he has only delivered hit in his dad’s direction??You must go to mental hospital!!!!

  • Right now there is good fight between Non-khans(Hrithik,Ajay and Akshay) and Khans(Aamir,Sharukh and Salman) on the basis of Box-office collection!!!In future Ranbir will also be in this great fight!!!!

  • Sumit sahay D2 is only blockbuster n ie. Multistarers n jodha akbar iz only clean hit, ZNMD iz super hit only at multiplexes n i.e. Also multistarer,single screen audiences rejected diz mve less than one wek so failure at single screen,n agnepath is also a super hit bt diz mves al credit doesnt go 2 him

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