Akshay Kumar reflected on how the film industry often treats actors differently depending on the success or failure of their most recent release, sometimes in ways that are hard to miss.
Akshay Kumar’s three-decade long journey in this film industry has been anything but linear. From early action hits to mid-career misfires, the Bollywood star has weathered box office highs and crushed lows with quiet resilience.
Recently, in an interview with ABP News, Akshay opened up on how he deals with his failures. Without mincing his words, Khiladi Kumar also got candid about how the industry treats actors based on their performance at the box office.
Akshay Kumar reflected on the many ups and downs he has faced throughout his career, acknowledging that he has experienced stretches of consecutive flops—sometimes 15 or 16 films in a row—as well as phases of back-to-back hits. He said that such fluctuations are common in life, especially in an industry as unpredictable as cinema, and mentioned that he has worked on around 150 films so far.
The Baby actor admitted that when his film doesn’t perform well, he feels upset during the initial weekend, but by Monday, he resets and begins preparing for his next project. The actor shared that the key is to take setbacks in stride and keep moving forward.
“Consecutive flops didn’t just happen once, they happened thrice. Sometimes it was 15 films in a row, sometimes 14. But it is all part of life,” Kumar said,
He emphasized that the more effort one puts into a film, the harder it becomes to accept its failure. Having invested nearly 80 days into shooting, followed by dubbing and promotions, it’s painful when the audience doesn’t respond positively. During such moments, he prefers solitude and avoids conversation.
He revealed that his wife Twinkle understands this phase well and gently advises their children to give him space, reassuring them that he’ll be fine in a few days.
Further, Akshay spoke about how the industry’s attitude towards actors shift depending on how their films fare at the box office.
He shared, “Your rooms keep changing size depending on the performance of your last film. When your film has performed well, you receive a presidential suite, sometimes vice-presidential, and other times just a regular room. This doesn’t happen to me now, but I experienced it at the beginning of my career.”
The actor went on to share an incident from an outdoor shoot for a two-hero film, recalling how his co-star, riding high on a recent box office success, was given a larger room, while Akshay, coming off a flop, was allotted a noticeably smaller one.
“Once, I was doing a film with two heroes. I won’t name the other actor, but since his previous film was a hit, he got a bigger room while I was given a smaller one. I still remember walking into his room and thinking: ‘Why is my room not so big?’ But then I realised it was because my films hadn’t worked. One needs to take these things in stride and move forward. It was some producers who did this, not all,” the actor said.
He added, “I never complained of this partiality, thinking at least I was getting a room. I come from a place where 24 people lived in one room. I am talking about my time and life in Chandni Chowk. We were a joint family.”
On the work front, Akshay Kumar was recently seen in Jolly LLB 3 alongside Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla, Amrita Rao and Huma Qureshi.
