Mumbai: The entire nation is dipped in Modi fervor and it seems Bollywood celebs too have joined the league.
Baby-starrer Akshay Kumar has recently stated the entire nation is safe in hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“With my hand on my heart, I believe 100% that we are not only in safe hands, but being led by a man (Modi) with a conscience as well as a necessary fighting spirit,”
Son of a soldier, Akshay proudly speaks about the commitment of Army men. He, however, believes the government could do much more for the armed forces.
“Our Army needs better funding, training and, most importantly, family benefits.”
Akshay was speaking on the sideline of his new flick Baby. After Holiday, this is his second film in recent years that focuses on national security.
In an interview to a leading daily, Akshay said, “Getting four-and-half to five stars for my film is not something that happens very often. I am still getting messages about how good it (Baby) was and I am feeling wonderful.
“But I wouldn’t want to take the credit for this. The entire credit should go to Neeraj Pandey. He is a solid director who knows what he wants, the kind of director you would want to believe in. He brings the best out of me,” Akshay said.
Action has been Akshay’s forte since the beginning of his career and somewhere along the way the industry discovered his comic timing. But the actor fell out of favour with critics.
While the audience would lap up his acts in films such as Housefull and Rowdy Rathore, critical acclaim eluded him. After long, Baby has bridged that gap.
Akshay clarifies he wasn’t looking at this film as a means to prove a point.
“I just wanted to be earnest; do my best, but do something different. The critics never gave me more than one star for my acting. But that was not the point. I wanted to challenge myself,” he explained.
Within two weeks of its release, Baby has earned Rs 85 crore at the box office. But Akshay is not worried whether the film will make it to the coveted Rs 100-crore club.
“This is a different film, with no song or elaborate action sequence. I am happy it’s doing well because of word-of-mouth publicity.”
After Baby, Akshay will be seen in two more films set against the backdrop of issues that plague the country.
In Gabbar, which will see a May release; he plays a vigilante officer who fights corruption in his unique way.
“We all are victims of corruption. It’s time we started doing something about it at our level,” he said.
The other film, Airlift, talks about the time when the Army entered a war zone and evacuated more than one lakh Indians from Kuwait within six days of the Gulf War breaking out.