Bollywood has always been a close-knitted industry and it’s very tough for an outsider to get a chance in a movie, forget being a lead withut having any filmy connection. But Akshay Kumar is one of the very few actors who entered Bollywood without having any connection wth Bollywood. Akshay Kumar was born in Amritsar, Punjab on 9 September, 1967 in a Punjabi family. His real name is Rajiv Bhatia which changed to Akshay Kumar while entering Bollywood. His father’s name is Om Bhatia and Mother’s name is Aruna Bhatia shifted to Delhi soon where the family stayed for few years. Later they moved to Bombay (present-day Mumbai) when his father left Army to become an accountant with UNICEF. Soon, his sister was born and the family lived in Koliwada, Central Bombay.
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Akshay Kumar did his schooling from Don Bosco High School, Matunga but from childhood only he was more interested in sports than studies. He dropped out of his college midway and learnt Taekwondo and obtained Black Belt. Then he moved to Bangkok to learn Martial Arts. He lived in Thailand for five years and learned Thai Boxing. He did many petty jobs there to sustain himself in Thailand. After coming back to India, he got a job in a travel agency in Calcutta ( Now Kolkata), he also worked as a chef in Dhaka (Banglasdeh) and in Delhi he used to sell Kundan Jewelry. He finally came back to Mumbai and started teaching martial arts to young children.
It was then father of one of his students saw Akshay Kumar and asked him to try his hands in modeling as he is good looking with a great height. The father of Akshay’s student was a modeling co-coordinator who gave him a modeling assignment for a furniture shoot. After two days of shoot, he got payment which was more than his entire month’s salary as a martial art teacher. He was amazed by it and started his career as a model but he always had a hidden dream of becoming an actor someday. He worked as an assistant for photographer Jayesh Sheth for 18 months without payment and instead of alary, he asked Jayesh Seth to make his portfolio to which Sheth agreed. He also worked as a background dancer in various films.
According to Akshay Kumar, he got his first lead role by sheer luck and chance. He had a modeling assignment in Bangalore but he missed the flight and that same evening he was offered the lead role in Prmaod Chakravarty’s movie Deedar opposite Larsihma Kapoor. Though Deedar was the first movie he signed, his first release was Saugandh in 1991 but unfortunately both Deedae and Sagnadh didn’t do well at the box office. His first big hit came with Khiladi in 1993 which was directed by Abbas-Mustan and was a big hit. Akshay’s performance was also appreciated, especially his action and comic timing.
He gave many hits where the title includes the term ‘Khiladi’ like Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Sabse Bada Khilada, Khiladiyon ka Khiladi and he was called as Khiladi kumar by many. Till now Akshay Kumar has done more than many movies, gave many hit movies amd also won a National Award for his movie Rustom in 2016. He married actress Twinkle Khanna, daughter of Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia on 17 January 2001. Together they have a son, and a daughter. At present he is one of the biggest stars of the country and his journey is an inspiration for many as he proved that with discipline, hardwork and dedication towards work always give fruitful results.
