THE KUMAR AT NO.1

Anil kapoor is almost ready to shoot Akshay Kumar. He is pointing the gun at Kumar’s chest and is clearly in no mood to show mercy. On his part, Kumar, with fake blood on the right side of his chiseled visage, is standing perfectly still with his eyes not giving away any emotion. Kapoor mouths a couple of heavy-duty rasta Hindi dialogues, sniggers and swings in action. A voice from a distance calls out, “Bhaiya ji”. Kapoor turns, Kumar blinks and the director shouts, “Cut.”
We’re on the sets of Yash Raj Films’ Tashan, touted as this summer’s most awaited release. With a star cast boasting of B town’s hottest lovebirds (read Saif and Kareena), the audience waits with bated breath for its release. But industry watchers’ eyes are set on Akshay Kumar.

For an industry obsessed with numbers, Kumar is the No. 1 guy. If Tashan clicks it’ll be Kumar’s fifth hit in a row. In the trade circles he is known as the ‘Rs 534 crore’ hero—the gross amount all his four super hits made at the box office in 2007. Welcome scored Rs 158 crore, Namastey London grossed Rs 142 crore while Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiya contended with Rs 124 crore and Rs 110 crore respectively.
“Akshay ka toh bhagya uday ho gaya hai. Anything he touches is gold. He has been ‘big’ for the last couple of years but right now he’s become the biggest,” opines trade specialist, Vikas Mohan.

To be fair nobody really gave Kumar a.k.a Rajiv Bhatia a chance. For a long time he was just this Punjabi boy from a modest family in Delhi who had worked as a waiter in Bangkok. They sniggered about his desi accent, his hairy chest and his over reliance on his one true love: martial arts. He was famously dubbed as a Cardboard Hero. But credit to the guy’s grit that he learned on the job. For every Deedar, there was a Khiladi and for every Mr Bond there was a Yeh Dillagi.
And now finally after 17 years in showbiz, Kumar has earned himself the tag of ‘Hit Machine’ by the trade folk. So how did he crack the elusive hit formula? The superstar replies, “Write it down. It’s dedication multiplied by talent minus arrogance divided by luck is equal to ME i.e. [Dedication x talent – arrogance / luck = ME ( Hit Machine)].”

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