On Monday, Akshay Kumar attended event of Movie Stunt Artist's Association in Mumbai. Akshay always holds huge respect for stuntmen in the industry therefore Asian Heart Institute and Akshay have partnered to give insurance cover to 370 stuntmen under the health and accident insurance scheme for the year 2017-18. During the event, Akshay praised and thanked all stuntmen for doing their job so brilliantly throughout his career and asserted that whatever he has achieved today is all because of doing action films.
Talking about his early days in the film industry, he said, “When I came to this industry that time I felt that firstly, I am a stuntman then the actor. For the first 9-10 years of my career I only did action movies. If anyone wanted to make action films at that time then they used to approach me for films but today, I feel whatever I achieved today is all because doing action films at that time. I thank all stuntmen, stunt master and choreographer to contribute in my career. I have done numerous stunts in my career but all those stunts were taught to me by all stuntmen”.
Praising the stuntmen, he said, “Doing stunt is very interesting and fun. For executing a single stunt, there is lot of planning and preparation is involved. When a comedian does comedy or romantic hero does romance he doesn’t risk his life but when a stuntman does his stunt then he puts his life into danger so therefore I can say with guarantee that if there was no stuntmen then not a single hero will be seen as hero on big screen but unfortunately, awards nights also doesn’t recognize their work but I am sure that one day stunt people will get their dues in the industry”.
He also praised Ranveer Singh, Vidyut Jammwal, Tiger Shroff as current crop of actors who do stunts in their films.
When quizzed about it, Akshay told reporters, "I've been hearing it for the past 25 years, whenever someone wins there is some discussion around it. This is not new. Someone or the other always creates a controversy. 'He shouldn't have won, the other person should have.'
"It's okay. I've won this after 26 years, 'agar woh bhi aapka mann kare toh le lo' (take it back if you feel like it)."
Asked if he would be considered for the Padma Bhushan for his philanthropic work in the future, Akshay said, "You have to do major work to earn such an award. Only then people can feel you deserve the award. We keep doing these things for our stuntmen, whatever we can in our capacity."
When we asked him to share if there was any instance in his career where he had to face an injury while performance, he said, “I am lucky I didn’t have to face anything like that as yet. All my bones are in their proper place in my body and I would like to thank my stunt-choreographers for this, they have been exceptionally good. They’ve always taken great care of me, and I believe that a great stunt choreographer is the one who takes care of the actor and his stuntman’s health and safety. A stunt sequence is said to be successful if no one performing gets even one scratch.”
Akshay was last seen in Naam Shabana playing role of RAW agent. In 2017, he will be seen in Padman, Toilet – Ek Prem Katha and 2.O.