Turn to any magazine or newspaper reporting on Bollywood, and Akshay Kumar seems to be their favourite punching bag. Switch on any TV channel these days covering Hindi films and chances are they will be talking about how Akshay is ‘almost finished’. Tees Maar Khan seems to have become the last nail in Akshay’s coffin. But is the situation really so bad for the actor whose name till three years ago spelt box-office magic? Not really! Established stars like Akshay Kumar don’t fade out merely because their films fail to perform at the box-office. Their contribution is far too great to be washed away by 10 or 15 flops. And frankly, Akshay has to his credit a successful Housefull in between his several flops like Blue, Khatta Meetha etc. Besides, ‘Tees Maar Khan‘ broke even, it is not a flop which it is being made out to be by the media. Agreed, no one expects an Akshay-Katrina starrer with Farah Khan as director to just recover the investment, but even then, an average grosser cannot be as bad as a flop or a disaster.
Coming back to established stars, flops and failures don’t drive them out of business. Go back in time to the years from 2000 to 2007 and you will recall how Ajay Devgan’s films bombed one after the other. Right from Deewane and Raju Chacha in 2000 to Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag in 2007, Ajay had delivered 26 flops in eight years. In all, 34 Ajay starrers had released from 2000 to 2007, and 26 of them had bombed. Only eight managed to make money and most of the eight were also mediocre successes. But did Devgan have to sit at home, without work? Surely not. Not only did Ajay bounce back with successes but year 2010 was probably one of the best years in the charismatic actor’s career. Golmaal 3, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, Raajneeti and Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? gave his career such a solid boost that nobody really cared if his Aakrosh, released in the same year, bombed at the ticket windows. And if Ajay could stage such a successful comeback, what makes people think that Akshay can’t? Akshay Kumar may be passing through the worst phase of his career but that in no way means, he is finished or almost finished. His selection of films may have failed, the actor himself hasn’t.
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