Akshay Kumar – shooting mess!

Akshay Kumar – shooting mess! by Master

Firstly, Akshay, and to a lesser extent Salman, were the only stars you could have signed a movie with just for the paycheck allure. All the other stars eventually started looking for scripts and the folks they make movies with. As everyone became selective and hard to get, Akshay utilized that completely and was available for any businessman turned producer waiting to make a movie. They could only get Akshay, as no other top star would ever do a movie just for the money. Akshay does so many movies, he has no qualms about script, director, or even leading lady. He doesn’t mind if the director is incapable or the leading lady is some art house heroine like Nimrat Kaur (Airlift) or Huma Qureshi (Jolly LLB2) or Radhika Apte (Padman) or even Mouni Roy (Gold). Akshay is worried about his role and paycheck. Yes, he will hear the script, but it’s more about projects, and he’s fine to do the movie as it’s less risky if doing multiple movies and if they are working according to his schedules.

Akshay Kumar proudly claims that he finished the movie in 40 days or even less. The point that he makes is very stupid and selfish. The movie is not shot in 40 days, though; the movie usually takes twice the days in total. For example, if he says he shot for Samrat Prithviraj for 40 days, that is correct, but that is because it’s the way of working which he has chosen like hourly or daily wage labor. He doesn’t work for the film as a whole, but he’s looking out for his time and effort in that movie. Akshay shot for 40 days for Prithviraj, but the whole movie took about 100 days of shooting to complete.

Let’s start by giving some examples. There are 2 sets constructed for a movie set, and one set needs 5 days of shooting with Akshay and other characters. Another set needs 10 days of shooting, and Akshay is needed there as well. Here, Akshay won’t give them 15 days of shooting dates, but he will break down his scenes and give like 4 days of shooting dates for his scenes. So, the director and all the co-actors join on set 1 and go scene by scene where Akshay has to mouth dialogues, and they stand in the background, and he completes 8-10 scenes in a day. The next day, he does the same, and his work for set 1 is completed. Then the next 3 days, all the other characters will be shooting their scenes reacting to Akshay’s dialogues and their close-up shots. Now, sometimes if Akshay gives the same dates at length, then Akshay moves on to set 2 from day 3, and then the co-actors will do the same for another 2-3 days and let Akshay mouth his dialogues, and he completes his portion, and then out he goes. The team, co-actors, and supporting actors then slog it for a week after that to complete the portions and reactions to Akshay’s scenes and extra effort to match it out. So, Akshay is working in the best possible way, which reduces his working time on that time, but it’s an extra burden for everyone associated with the movie from maintaining sets, co-actors shooting at odd times, and junior actors always shooting at night with assistant directors to complete their reaction scenes. The director is too tired by then. That’s how he has been making movies at a fast pace by giving 35-40 days on each project, unlike other actors.

For example, SRK, Aamir Khan, or even Ranbir Kapoor are fine to hang out on the set after shooting their portions while the rest of the cast completes their scenes. If a set is constructed for 5 days, they will shoot all 5 days and be with the co-stars, especially as they are shooting for only 1 movie during that time and have no other movie to rush. Sometimes for other commitments, they can skip if they are not needed, but they don’t work in a way that multiple 5 days sets are waiting for 20 days as Akshay shoots all his scenes in multiple scenes in 1 week and then the rest of the star cast is completing their scenes in those scenes after he’s gone. This also increases the budget, but the producer has no choice as Akshay’s dates are more expensive than production costs and other artists’ costs. SRK gave 180 days for Happy New Year, gave 150 days for Jawan as most of the scenes are with many co-actors and they shoot till that set or section is completed for everyone before moving on to the next schedule. Aamir shot for 180 days for Laal Singh, and he follows the same logic. Neither do they charge prices based on dates, and no actors do that except Akshay. SRK gave 55 days for FAN, but they realized it’s taking time for correct VFX-approved shots and they ended up shooting 95 days. Zero was planned for 150 days, but they shot for 190 days, and so on. For them, it’s about the movie versus their scenes. Never mind that’s why SRK or Aamir also produce their movies.

On the production front, Akshay runs a fake production house which he just uses to share profits and keep his name as a co-producer. He doesn’t have a concrete production team, and neither can he produce any movies by himself. Whenever anyone comes, he asks for a profit share and then becomes a producer on paper, and still the other guy takes care of everything unlike Aamir or SRK who work on the project from scratch and produce, cast everyone, and build a team for every movie. Akshay does nothing of that sort, but he wants his name to be clubbed as a producer who produces movies which he’s not. SRK and Aamir rarely do that, but they did when Farhan couldn’t afford to pay them and asked to share profits and become co-producers instead while he takes care of the whole production for Talaash and DON2. Those are not true Aamir Khan Productions or Red Chillies productions, but you’ll find their names as co-producers. That can be a few cases, but for Akshay, that is the norm as he never produces anything by himself.

Akshay and his PR created this fake narrative that Akshay finishes his movies in 35 to 40 days, but how come the movies are not released in 3 months after he signed? Coz everyone is still working on that movie after Akshay finishes his portions and jumps onto another movie set and does the same. Why are producers not complaining? They can’t as that’s the only way you can get Akshay Kumar. He’s not going to give you 100 or 150 days for a movie shoot and be there every day while you perfect each shot. He needs to move on and doesn’t give more than 1-2 remakes, and the whole idea is to wrap up as many scenes as possible each day. There’s some clock running inside him to complete each movie in under 40 days.

That’s why you don’t see any serious director willing to sign Akshay Kumar, who cares about the craft and isn’t stressed out calculating the hours each day and rushing to shoot Akshay’s portions instead of focusing on the movie as a whole. That’s why you have blunders like that mustache look in Samrat Prithviraj. He needed to dedicate a whole 4-6 months and shoot that movie at one go, grow a real mustache, justify the character, work on diction, and make some body changes, etc. But he has no interest in that kind of effort; he’s just willing to rush the movies. He’s dedicated, but only to himself and no one else.