Akshay Kumar upcoming movies: Will he regain top spot?

For some unknown reason, the media is trying to bring down Akshay Kumar’s Desi Boyz, by calling it a failure and a non-starter at the box-office. While the opening is above average, the film has recorded decent numbers for the weekend. With collections of around 25 crores, Desi Boyz is only 10% lower than the much-acclaimed Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

And while many non-deserving actors are being praised for their performances, despite being non-actors, Akshay’s performance in Desi Boyz hasn’t gotten him his due credit. Director Rituparno Ghosh on Twitter said “I saw Desi Boyz yesterday and cannot help thinking that Akshay Kumar is one of the most under-rated actors in Bollywood. We have him slotted as an action hero or in a few comic roles but the fact that he is a fine actor goes unnoticed.”.

Akshay’s biggest mistake was, he never really capitalized on his fan-following. A couple of years back, right at the absolute peak of his career, he took his audience and fans for granted. An overdose of brainless comedies – especially films like Chandni Chowk To China, Kambakht Ishq and Blue – lost him a lot of fans.

Not all is lost though, as Akshay has a fantastic line up of upcoming movies. Below is the list.

• Once Upon A Time in Mumbai 2: Undoubtedly, the film that we look forward to the most, is the sequel to Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. Emraan Hashmi was brilliant in a character inspired by underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim and Akshay in a non-comic role after a long time should be a welcome change.
• Rowdy Rathore: Directed by Prabhu Deva of ‘Wanted’ fame, Rowdy Rathore is expected to be filled with brilliant action sequences. With action-masala entertainers being the flavor of the season, Rowdy Rathore has good chances of being Akshay’s biggest hit of the year.
• Housefull 2: Honestly, the first film in the Housefull series didn’t really deserve the success that it got. But released right after films like Kambakth Ishq, Tasveer 8×10, Blue and De Dana Dan, it seemed like a classic back then. But Housefull 2 will be his only out-an-out comedy in 2012 and the film has an interesting cast.
• Joker (3D): We are not quite sure what to expect from Joker. It will be India’s first film to be actually shot using a 3D camera (others like Ra One were shot in 2D and later converted to 3D). Director Shirish Kunder’s first was average at best, but it would be wrong to judge Joker based on his first effort. It should be a better film.
• Khiladi 786: Director Ashish R Mohan has assisted Rohit Shetty on all three Golmaal films and with Khiladi 786 he makes his directorial debut. It also marks Akshay’s return to the Khiladi series of films, which were instrumental in making him the star that he was in the 90s.

So there you go, 2012 would finally be the year where we get to see plenty of variety from Akshay Kumar. As usual he has 4 – 5 releases in 2012. This time though, each film will be different from the other.

Will he regain the top spot once again? Which Akshay Kumar movie are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments section below.