Akshay Kumar: Where is the box-office magic? One of the much-celebrated Bollywood superstars, who is known for his physical fitness and super hit films, has given seven flops in a row in the last two years. As the year is ending and the actor also has multiple projects in the pipeline, we look for a ray of hope that will not only restore the stardom of Akshay but also deliver much-needed business at the box office
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
In a career span of 33 years, Akshay Kumar is perhaps one of the Bollywood superstars who managed to create a space and reputation in the industry that is filled with good- will and the most bankable actors of his time for all the producers he worked with. He was the actor who started as a stuntman and action hero in the beginning of his career and quite successfully delivered cult classic comedy hits like the Hera Pheri franchise, the Housefull franchise on the one hand, and high-concept socially relevant films like Padman and Toilet:Ek Prem Katha on the other hand. Between 2016 and 2019, the time was such that the man delivered 10 commercial hits back-to-back and therefore became the most favourite hero for his fans!
Between In 2016 and 2017, Akshay delivered huge commercial success with films like Airlift, Rustom, Housefull 3, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, and Jolly LLB2. In 2018, his film Gold earned 104 crore at the box office. By 2019, whatever the actor touched turned into gold. That year, all four of his releases turned out to be super hits: Good Newzz (205.14 crore), Mission Mangal (202.98 crore), Housefull 4, and Kesari.
However, it is the same actor who, for the last 2 years, only delivered films that offered nightmares to his producers. He only had a series of flops of some of the high-budget films: Bachchhan Paandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan, Ram Setu, Selfiee, Mission Raniganj, and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.
Interestingly, the box office result of his film did not affect the number of films he has in his hands, as Akshay is currently in a lineup of five films!
Here we look at his upcoming films that will somehow have to work at the box office, if not for the actor, surely for the producers, so that they do not face any losses from these theatrical releases.
Khel Khel Mein: The multi-starrer film is an official remake of the Italian film Perfect Strangers, also starring Taapsee Pannu, Fardeen Khan, Vaani Kapoor, and Ammy Virk, among others. Directed by Mudassar Aziz, the film is planned to release on August 16 of this year.
Sky Force: Based on a historical event from the India-Pakistan Air War of 1965, this is one of the genres Akshay is known to flourish over the years with multiple commercial potboilers. The makers of the film, Sandeep Kewlani and Abhishek Anil Kapur, recently informed the fans through their social media handles that the shooting of the film is over and they are ready to release the film theatrically on October 2. The film features Suniel Shetty, Nimrat Kaur, Sara Ali Khan, and Sarad Kelkar, among others.
Singham Again: This Rs 200 crore budgeted Rohit Shetty-directed super successful commercial franchise is coming back with a much bigger star cast, including Akshay Kumar, on November 1 this year. From the film fraternity to the fans, everyone is looking forward to this film being one of the most successful ones, and it is riding on high expectations commercially and cinematically. We must not forget that in 2021, when the fourth installment of the film Sooryavanshi was released, it earned Rs. 294.91 crore and was the only film that saved the industry with great business in the middle of the pandemic when the film industry saw the worst. The upcoming film has a huge star cast of Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Tiger Shroff, and Arjun Kapoor, among others, along with the trio of Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh, and Akshay Kumar.