Happy Birthday Akshay Kumar; Here Are 10 Of His Best Performances As An Actor

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Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Akshay Kumar has maintained his relevance as an actor for around three decades. The handsome hunk turned 52 on the 9th of September and the one way we can pay honor to his tremendous and versatile acting skills is by recalling his best performances. The actor is considered one of the fittest and hottest men in Bollywood and does not look anywhere close to his actual age. From Pad Man to Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, let’s look at some of Akshay Kumar’s most classic performances as an actor:

1. Pad Man

Pad Man is a biopic by nature and won Akshay Kumar a Filmfare nomination for his role as the lead character of, Lakshmikant or “Laxmi” Chauhan. The film is based on the life of a man by the name of Arunachalam Muruganantham. He is a social activist based in Tamil Nadu who created a low-cost sanitary napkin manufacturing machine and helped women from lower economic backgrounds achieve menstrual freedom. In the film, Akshay Kumar detailed the trials and tribulations that “Laxmi” had to endure in his quest to create a cheaper alternative to the expensive sanitary napkin brands in the market. In a country where menstruation is still taboo, Laxmi had to endure a lot of personal problems before he was able to establish himself.

2. Mission Mangal

Mission Mangal is a film where the regular male lead had to play a secondary character for once. Yes, this is a film about the women and men behind the Mangalyaan project. Akshay plays a man named Rakesh who is selected to head ISRO’s mission to Mars which people believe is unachievable. However, Rakesh and his team of five extraordinarily intelligent women and two men prove them wrong when they successfully execute the mission.

3. Airlift

Airlift is an action film featuring Akshay Kumar playing the lead role of Ranjit Katyal. Ranjit was a Kuwaiti businessman who helped carry out the evacuation of around 170,000 Indian citizens living in Kuwait. This happened during the invasion of Kuwait by the then-leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. It is another biopic and based on the real-life of a Malayali businessman by the name of Mathunny Mathews, whose character Ranjit’s character was based on.

4. Rustom

Rustom has Akshay Kumar playing Rustom Pavri, a naval officer who returns from his posting to find his wife, Cynthia having an affair with a good friend of his. He confesses to the murder of her lover but as the story unfolds, his true intentions are revealed.

5. Bhool Bhulaiyaa

The film is based on another cult status Malayalam film, Manichitrathazhu which inspired the storyline to be produced in four regional languages! Bhool Bhulaiyaa follows Akshay Kumar playing a psychiatrist named Dr. Aditya Shrivastav. The film involves him investigating a possible “haunting” and trying to convince a family that their daughter is not possessed. Bhool Bhulaiyaa has some intense moments as well as hilarious ones and it eventually ends with him finding out the real culprit to the family’s haunting. It performed incredibly well at the box-office and went on to achieve cult status in Hindi cinema.

6. Hera Pheri

A film that is considered one of Akshay Kumar’s most classic performances is Hera Pheri. Paresh Rawal plays the role of Babu Rao, a near-sighted landlord who is always in financial trouble. Akshay Kumar plays his good-for-nothing tenant Raja who hasn’t paid rent in months. Suneil Shetty’s Shyam plays another tenant who can’t pay rent due to his inability to land a job. The three are constantly quarreling amongst each other due to these problems. They then hatch a plan to pretend to be kidnappers and the story gets even more confusing as it goes along. Watch this film for some good laughs with your family.

7. Mujhse Shaadi Karogi

Mujhse Shaadi Karogi is the story of Sunny, played by Akshay Kumar who rents a room in the state of Goa. His room-mate Sameer, played by Salman Khan, is a total playboy and generally a trash human being. The film then follows the roommates vying for the attention of their beautiful neighbor, Rani (Priyanka Chopra). Both of them fight against each other for the affection of Rani and what ensues is a hilarious movie following the love triangle.

8. Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi

Akshay Kumar plays an army officer who is on his way to the USA to attend his brother Ajay’s wedding nuptials. On the flight, he meets a woman named Priya and falls in love with her. Unfortunately for Akshay, he lands in the States to find his brother missing and wanted by the cops. His search for his sibling leads him to land in the arms of Maya who is an American outlaw. This starts a game of life and death between the “Khiladis” in the film.

9. Kesari

This war drama showcases the Battle of Saragarhi that occurred in 1897. The plot focuses on Havildar Ishar Singh, played by Akshay who led a platoon of 21 Sikhs. They fought against an invading army of around 10,000 Afghans to defend their homeland. This epic event was considered as one of the greatest last stands to ever occur in history.

10. Namastey London

Namaste London features Akshay Kumar playing the role of a naive and simple-minded man whose marriage is arranged to the feisty NRI girl, Jasmeet Malhotra aka “Jazz”, played by Katrina Kaif. The storyline follows how Jazz tries to outwit her potential groom while Akshay secretly starts hatching his won plans to woo Jazz.

Would you add any other films to this list? Do tell us which Akshay Kumar film was your favorite in the comment section down below.

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Niharika NayakBA (Media & Communication)

 

Niharika has a passion for all things art, music, and travel and has over 4 years of experience in writing for social media. During her spare time, she likes experimenting in the kitchen, playing video games, and hanging out with stray animals.

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