Akshay: Not doing films to break box office records

'I have earned a lot of money.'

'Gabbar deals with corruption in a violent way.'

'You cannot underestimate Bollywood. We will make better films if we get the same budget as Hollywood projects.' 

Gabbar is Back star Akshay Kumar gets candid.

At a time when actors want to focus on one film a year, Akshay Kumar manages four releases.

While he promotes his next film Gaabar Is Back ahead of its May 1 release, the 47-year-old actor is also working on Prabhu Dheva’s Singh Is Bling, Karan Johar’s Brother, and debutant director Raja Menon’s Airlift.

He will also start shooting for Sajid-Farhad's Housefull 3.

In this interview with Sonil Dedhia/Rediff.com, Akshay talks about his realistic cinema, how he manages to do four films a year and why he is eager to start work on Housefull 3.

Gabbar Is Back deals with corruption. How do you look at corruption in our society?

I have faced corruption and I haven’t come across any person who hasn’t or anyone who hasn’t bribed someone.

Our society is such that we cannot finish any work without being corrupt.

Even if someone doesn’t want to function that way, they somehow get tangled in the nexus. To come out of it they have to give a bribe.

There have been many films on corruption. How is Gabbar Is Back different? 

Gabbar Is Back doesn’t deal with lower levels of corruption. The film exposes big scams.

The film deals with these scams in a violent way. We trash the people who are spreading corruption.

When you make an example of someone who is really influential or is a known person, others fall in line automatically.

The film is a collection of real life incidents. It is the story of a common man who is terribly affected by corruption in his everyday life and, when it starts impacting his family, he turns violent.

Do you think violence is a solution to corruption?

Violence might be right or wrong, but the problem is if you push a common man to his extreme, he doesn’t care about the consequences.

I’ll give you an example. In school, when a student creates trouble, the teacher punishes him by asking him to kneel down or gives him some other punishment in front of the entire class to set an example for the other students.

We are trying to show the same thing in our film.

Your film Baby has been the biggest hit of 2015 so far. Are you looking to surpass that collection with Gabbar Is Back?

I am not doing films to break box office records.

I enjoy my work. I like to do different kinds of cinema and that is why I am doing so many films.

I have earned a lot of money. I want to do sensible cinema and keep entertaining people.

The audience wants to see content-driven films; good content gets you good box office figures.

Is that why you are doing films that have a message and some sort of realism?

Yes, I am more inclined towards doing real cinema now.

I enjoy doing films that have a sense of realism.

Whether it is Oh My God, which deals with religion, or Holiday which dealt with sleeper cells, or Gabbar Is Back, which deals with corruption, I have worked in films that focus on different themes. 

You have dabbled in several genres and it doesn't always work. Are you aware of the risks and have you been apprehensive before signing any film?

I haven’t been apprehensive about doing any kind of film.

I love to take risks and I have always done that in my career.

For two years, I have been doing films that belong to the thriller or drama genre.

I am actually quite keen to do a slapstick comedy. That is why I am waiting to start shooting for Housefull 3 in September.

Hollywood films like Fast & Furious 7 and the recently released Avengers: Age Of Ultron have done really well in India. Their production quality is much better than the films made in India…

(Interrupts) We need money to make quality films like Hollywood.

Their films have a budget of Rs 300-400 crore, so their graphics, their technical input and their content is much better.

Hollywood actors spend a whole year on just one film. They get into the character and live with it.

They also release their films all over the world in a large number of theatres. We don’t release ours on that scale all over the world.

But you cannot underestimate Bollywood. We will make better films if we get the same budget.

You are the only actor who does three or four films at a time. How do you manage it?

It’s very easy to do four films. One film doesn’t take more than 60 days, so four films will take 240 days.

There are 365 days in the year, so the rest is all a holiday (laughs).

All my films are different. I don't want to be typecast in any particular genre. 

No one can ask me why I do the same kind of films because I have never done that in my career.