MCM: Akshay Kumar, Khiladi of the Hindi Cinema

Our MCM of the week is Canadian actor of Indian origin and one of the most suave celebrities of the Indian movie industry - Akshay Kumar.

Kumar is a well-known actor in the Hindi film industry and he is fondly known as ‘Khiladi Kumar’ or ‘Khiladi of the Hindi Cinema.’

Born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, the versatile actor is also producer, martial artist, stuntman social activist and television personality. His breakthrough performance was in Saugandh in 1991. Kumar gained popularity for his Khiladi series, an Indian version of James Bond, such as Mr. Bond (1992), Khiladi (1992), Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994), Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi (1997) and Khiladi 420 (2000).

From a young age, Kumar was inclined towards acting and fitness. When he began his acting career in the 1990s, he primarily starred in action films. He also tried his luck in modelling when a student suggested that he tries modelling. Because of his success as a model, he was offered films. Along with his good looks and excellent martial art skills, he was always the first choice to do adventurous movies. He also does his own stunts in his films.

He changed his name from Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia to Akshay Kumar as he saw a movie which the actor opposite his favourite actress was named Akshay.

With a career spanning more than 25 years, he has featured in over 100 Hindi films and won several awards including the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Rustom and two Filmfare Awards. Akshay was praised for his performance in Rustom which garned him numerous award nominations. Rustom grossed more than 200 crores at the box office.

Akshay dropped out of higher education after a year and went to Bangkok to learn martial arts. After obtaining a black belt in Taekwondo while in India, he studied martial arts in Bangkok, Thailand, where he learned Muay Thai and worked as a chef and waiter. Upon his return to Mumbai, he commenced the teaching of martial arts.

Among his biggest achievements, Kumar received The Asian Awards in 2011 for his outstanding achievement in Cinema. Also, in 2017, National Film Award for Best Actor for the films Rustom and Airlift.

Box Office India has listed Kumar as one of the most successful actors in the history of Indian cinema. He became the first Bollywood actor whose movies have crossed respectively the Rs 2000 crore (₹20 billion (US$310 million) in 2013 and the Rs 3000 crore (₹30 billion (US$460 million)) in 2016 in their domestic net lifetime collection. Having done so, he has established himself as one of the prominent actors of the Hindi cinema.

Akshay Kumar who recently won the GQ Legend award at the GQ India’s inaugural Style Awards revealed that he bought his style with money while growing up. He said, "I'd heard this saying that style is either there with you or it's not there with you. But you see, I bought my style with money while growing up. And that's a fact and many of us do it.

"I used to save up money to buy international magazines only to tear out the pages that featured Hollywood celebrities, so I could follow their fashion sensibilities and use that as inspiration to work on my own fashion sense and style. And I see many actors doing that even today."

When it comes to his family, he is known as a protective father and keeps his two children away from the media. He stated that he wants to "give them a normal childhood." As a proud father, he tattooed the name of his son, Aarav on his back.

The actor who has endorsed brands like Pepsi, Thums Up, Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India, Micromax Mobile, Red Label, LG Electronics among others stays in shape with a combination of kickboxing, basketball, swimming and Parkour as well as working out.