Interview: Akshay Kumar talks 'Action Replayy'

Director Vipul Shah says audiences have never seen Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar in the sort of role he’s playing at the box-office this week, when ‘Action Replayy’ hits cinemas. The 43-year-old actor himself, who was born Rajiv Bhatia and is one of Bollywood's highest-paid stars, says the role was both versatile and demanding – but that the film, which premieres in Dubai on Tuesday , will be an out-and-out entertainer. In this interview, he talks about his relationship with Vipul Shah, how this is a film for his parents and what it was like working with Aishwarya Rai. Read on for more: Tell us about your new film, ‘Action Replayy’. What’s it about? I’m going to quickly get this out of the way – it is not an ‘action’ film!! This is what I would call one of those lovely romantic comedy films: it’s our tribute to the seventies. It’s about a son who goes to extreme measures to revive his parents’ marriage. He travels back in time to fix what is clearly very wrong in the extremely dead marriage between my and Aishwarya’s characters. He is able to rewind our lives so we can ‘Action Replayy’ our life-long weaknesses and hopefully get it right second time around. What happens next is a festival of emotions, and is definitely a Diwali everyone will want to replay! What appealed to you about the role? How is it different from other films you’ve acted in? I play an extremely innocent husband, a man that only lives to please his demanding wife. My son hates our marriage, so when returning to the seventies he tries to teach me to become ‘The Man’ I should have been. I’m a nervous wreck, I let people walk over, talk to and abuse me like a street hawker with bad breath. But my path to better myself is one very memorable journey, and I must say to play the quirks of the seventies was so much fun compared to the characters of today. How did this role change you? It changed me completely!! I went from ‘me’ at the script reading, to becoming a greasy long haired half blind weakling of a husband, to then an ‘almost’ strong, bouncy haired handsome seventies stud. It was so interesting to portray so much versatility in ‘one’ character in ‘one’ film. You are working again with Vipul Shah after the box office success of ‘Singh is Kinng’. What do you expect from ‘Action Replayy?’ Will it hit the box office the way ‘Waqt’ and ‘Singh is Kinng’ did? I’m so sorry – me and Vipul own a time machine that only travels back in time, it unfortunately doesn’t visit the future, so I should say only God knows what lies ahead, and he’s keeping very quiet, (he knows how much I love suspense!). Of course we would all love another super box-office success. It really is a lovely movie, I don’t see why it wouldn’t. Vipul and you seem to have a formula that works at the box-office. What is your relationship like with him? What makes your duo a success? You make it sound like we’re married! It is our fifth film together and every one of them has been memorable in Hindi film history, which is an amazing record, but we work so well together because we both respect each other as utmost professionals, we have full faith in each others movements, the effort we give to our movies and our passions for film is identical. We try very hard not to let each other down or let anything get in the way of work or our friendship. That’s where many relationships in this industry go wrong, they get mixed up with personal and professional decisions, very few are pure-blooded genuine friendships, it’s the same all over the world, I guess mine and Vipul’s is one of those special cases. You are known for your meticulous comic timing and have been called India’s ultimate action hero – how much of your role in ‘Action Replayy’ combines both your comedy and action skills? Not much because this is not an ‘action’ film! You might see the odd bit of humorous action but nothing to scream from the roof tops. There is one scene where I have a typical seventies ‘dishum dishum’ fight which is a classic, but you have to wait and see why. This film has way more romantic comic timing than anything else, it makes you just sigh out loud and hold your partner’s hand. Who do you think the film will appeal to and why? It will appeal to everyone because everyone in India gets married, this movie is like a couples dictionary on how to get it right. Like the American sitcom ‘Sex in the City’ is an eye opener for all men, ‘Action Replayy’ is a one-stop guide to getting and staying married happily ever after. Are there any resemblances to earlier films inspired by the seventies, such as ‘Om Shanti Om’? Not at all… The directors are completely different directors, Farah Khan and Vipul Shah, could never make even slightly similar films, and that’s what I love about them. ‘Action Replayy’ is in a zone of its own. It went from a classic theatre play to an adorable big screen beauty. What attracted you to the script of ‘Action Replayy’? Well actually it’s a theatre production that Vipul Shah