I joined film industry for money: Actor Akshay Kumar
Mumbai, Nov 19: Actor Akshay Kumar says he was drawn to the film industry because it offered a lot of money for someone who was struggling back then.
The actor started out his film career primarily as an action hero before blooming into an all-round star.
"I did a lot of action films earlier because I knew nothing else. For 11-13 years, I did only action. I did Thai boxing in Bangkok for five years. Back then I had made up my mind that I'll come to Mumbai and open a martial arts school.
"Honestly, the only thing which brought me to the industry was only money. I just came here to earn money," he said.
Akshay said he used to make Rs 5,000 per month teaching martial arts but once earned Rs 21,000 simply by posing as a model and it changed his perspective.
"I used to get paid Rs 5,000 a month when I used to teach martial arts. Once someone asked me to do modelling. I tried modelling for a furniture showroom. There was a model and we both posed and I got Rs 21,000 within two hours!
"I thought what better place to be than here! I thought now I'll do modelling and then eventually entered films," he said speaking at the World Toilet Summit. He is the Harpic Sanitation Ambassador.
Akshay started his career as an action hero but became a star in comedy and romantic genre before switching to varied roles and socially relevant stories.
"I must have done about 135-140 films where most of my initial films were only action. No producer or director would even look at me thinking 'He won't be able to act so just give him action,' I did that then gradually shifted to comedy and then romantic films," he said.
The actor believes commercial movies with social messages have a wider reach than documentaries.
"I personally believe there is no point making documentary films. I've seen several times in many villages, sorry to say, but nobody reacts to that. People like to see a commercial film. I consider myself lucky who got an opportunity to do commercial cinema and give people a social message in a very different way," he added.
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NDA's win in Bihar Assembly bypolls a matter of concern: Prashant Kishor
Patna, Nov 23: Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Saturday dubbed as "a matter of concern" the NDA's win in assembly by-polls in Bihar despite "failure" of the BJP-led coalition to end the state's chronic backwardness during it's decades-long rule.
Talking to reporters here shortly after the results were out, Kishor also drew succour from the fact that his fledgling Jan Suraaj won "10 per cent" of the total votes polled in four seats, but rubbished the claim that it had played a role in the RJD's defeat in three of these.
"RJD is a 30-year-old party. The son of its state president finished third. Can Jan Suraaj be faulted for that? In Belaganj all Muslim votes went to the JD(U) candidate. In Imamganj, the Jan Suraaj cut into NDA votes. Else, the victory margin of (Union minister) Jitan Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha would have been bigger", asserted Kishor.
Notably, Imamganj, a reserved seat, was retained by Manjhi's daughter-in-law Deepa, who defeated the RJD candidate by a thin margin of less than 6,000 votes. Jan Suraaj candidate Jitendra Paswan finished third, polling more than 37,000 votes.
When pointed out that in three of the four seats, candidates of Jan Suraaj had polled less than one-sixth of the total votes and ran the risk of losing their deposits, Kishor shot back "That should not be a matter of concern (chinta ki baat). If there is a matter of concern, it is the ability of the NDA to make a clean sweep despite having ruled Bihar for so long and "failed" to end the state's backwardness".
The IPAC founder, who had a brief stint in the JD(U), insisted that the party's supremo Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, was a "spent force" and its candidate, former MLC Manorama Devi, had won on her own steam.
"We have always said that our fight is with NDA, not with RJD despite its claim of being the largest party in Bihar.....(but) Nitish Kumar is no factor. His party polled just about 11 per cent of total votes", said Kishor.
About his own party's inability to make a mark, Kishor said "We have secured 10 per cent votes..... in seats where Jan Suraaj had no presence since these areas were yet to be covered by my padyatra. Also, please note that we got our poll symbol after filing of nomination papers was over".
He also maintained that the Jan Suraaj will go solo in the assembly polls due next year when it will contest "all 243 seats".
"We were initially written off but by garnering about 10 per cent votes, in a state known to vote along predictable caste lines, we have proved a point. In the next few months we shall be strengthening the organization to ensure that vote share of the Jan Suraaj improves", he said.
