Raj of Dil Wale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ) and Prem of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Raja of Rangeela were the only three names that the audience took home and from whose hands were ready to eat the same daal every day. Amongst other offshoots of late 80s and early 90s were the likes of Ajay Devgan, Sunil Shetty and Akshay Kumar, who had almost been written off even before they showed full face of their bat as wooden faced and capable of doing only B-grade mar-dhaad cinema.

Personally, I saw myself showering encomiums on Shahrukh’s acting and histrionics with as much gusto as I loathed Akshay for his deadpan act in most of his movies, which were same from beginning to end. So, when in the midst of my being wrapped in this frame of mindset, I learnt that an actor of Akshay’s calibre had successfully elevated himself to the position of being a favourite actor of my friend. Ironically, this friend happened to be a trained singer and an aficionado of classical music.

13 years later, August 2008: Akshay is being hailed as the real king of box office. Hardcore critics for whom he had always been a non-actor are going ga-ga over his acting skills, especially his comedy. He seems to have transcended whatever people could imagine about him by gigantic leaps.

Today, Akshay may not be doing the kind of cinema I have a fascination for, but he makes me laugh, he brings smile on my face and he appears to have become a reliable and strong stress buster. Deeming that his films are hitting bull’s eye, stands testimony to the fact that I am not alone exhibiting my grin at his histrionics. Today, my friend must be a part of majority unlike that day in 1995.

These 13 years have seen a metamorphosis of a bump on the log into a petal of a rose perfuming everything coming its way. Do we have a way of expounding this almost miraculous transformation? Where did he bring this chutzpah from, which he lacked earlier? And now the most important question that I can’t help raise: Is Akshay the true successor of Amitabh Bachchan of 70s and early 80s? Can we say that it is he and he only who has to muster the courage to come to audience every few months for their approval and goes home gathering corroborations of whatever he is doing. (Personally, I adore Aamir’s way of dealing with his cinema ie quality over quantity)? Do we have substantial ground (a continuous successful run of seven years) to catapult him to status of being the ‘Baadshah of Box office’ if actors like Shahrukh (a shrewd businessman with average talent for acting, abundance of optimism and verve and a true role model to be followed by youth) Aamir (a true successor of Raj Kapoor and pride of today’s Bollywood) and Salman (a big name, thanks to off-screen drama and a marvelous beginning, irrespective of fate of his films and the fate of God Tussi Great Ho ) have regularly been hailed as the three most successful actors of 90s and first decade of 21st century, despite having been starred in so many duds.

The beginning of 21st century also turned out to be a new beginning for a worn out action star of B-grade cinema. In some god-sent fortunate moment, he decided to turn to comedy from action, a decision not that easy as it seems in hindsight. But he took the decision and gave his all to it and has been reaping the fruits since then. The wave of fresh success that began with Hera Pheri (2000, Priyadarshan) is still in full swing with the latest being Singh is King seeing packed halls,. The same B-grade action star is now enjoying the ride and a new found status that is not far from what only some in very few achieve. How ironical it seems today that comedy, one of the most difficult forms of acting to master, is being seen as bulwark of the once rejected actor. In this new avatar, he left behind even those unsuccessful days when he had burnt his hands with comedy.

But it will be utter injustice to Akshay and his dramatic turn around if we ascribe his current success only to his inimitable style of comedy. It is true that now comedy seems to have become a somnambulant act for him but the way he stood up to the might of legendary Amitabh Bachchan in Aankhein as a blind bank robber spoke volumes of his grip on the act. Besides this, how can we forget the wicked chameleon Vicky of Ajnabi and his portrayal of a strayed son torn between strained equations with his father and life alike while being lost in the quotidian struggle in Waqt again with Amitabh. In addition to these, films like Khaki and Aitraaz too proved to be quite a money spinner for their producers despite being from different genres and not comedy certainly among them.

As I said before, he is yet to carve out a place where his cinema can have a legacy of being watched and kept in memory, years down the line. Today, he may be in the most fertile period of his career giving birth to as physically strong films as he himself is, but he should not forget that mere physical attractiveness attract attention, but to protrude that time-span of attention, body needs a great soul and heart in right place as well. He would be doing a great service to himself if he draws benefit of being not only popular but a much better actor now than he ever was and direct his moves to a kind of cinema, which can bridge the chasm between mass and class, commercial and art and emerge as good cinema. In 70s, Amitabh had the triumvirate of Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra and Hrishikesh Mukherjee to buttress his position as a superstar and good actor. Akshay has already found his Prakash and Manmohan in the guise of Priyadarshan and Anees Bazmi and to some extent Vipul Shah, but he is yet to find his Hrishikesh. Only then his success will enjoy and feel what completeness is like.

Today we see the audience flocking to his films despite the absence of promotion and media mania that precede films of some other stars in this industry where facades rule rather than the real face. This is more than enough to prove that he is doing an Amitabh in the times when theatres are pitted against myriad sources of entertainment. Ironically, in changing times, it was Amitabh’s film, wherein, he plays god that producers thought prudent not to put against Akshay’s ‘Singh is King. . Akshay, in utter humility, in response to a question, did not forget to say: “God tussi great ho.”