Would love to do character-driven films: Akshay Kumar (Interview)

Akshay Kumar, usually seen as a larger-than-life character in commercial cinema, says he would love to take up character-driven roles if the filmmakers approach with such offers.

"The content has become the most important thing for me, but I have to do films like 'Boss' or 'Khiladi 786'," Akshay, whose latest release "Holiday - A Soldier Is Never Off Duty", the official remake of Tamil hit "Thuppaki", opened to mixed reviews from the critics, told IANS in an interview.

"People are making more commercial cinema than character-driven films. I would love to do character-driven films, but the roles have to come to me. Also, I have to diversify all the time. Our media is like a hawk and it will catch anything they feel is repetitive," he added.

He is never missed at the box office for too long, thanks to the frequency of his releases.

For instance, he was seen in five films in 2012 that included content driven "OMG: Oh My God!" as well as commercial potboiler "Housefull". In 2013, he opened his account with "Special 26", a film with a superb plot and marvellous performances and it was followed by two more releases.

A.R. Murugadoss directed "Holiday", which is produced by Vipul Shah, is his first film of 2014 and there are two more to follow.

So, normally, he returns to the box office with his movies every three months.

Asked whether he'd prefer to keep a longer gap between his films, he said: "I would love to, but the release of a film is not in my hands."

"My last film 'Boss' released nine months back. The producers invest money and they have specific reasons to release a film on a particular date.

"I asked Reliance (co-producers of 'Holiday') and Vipul to release the film a little earlier, but they decided to release the film in June. My next film "It's Entertainment" releases Aug 8 and then 'Gabbar' will release.

"I can manipulate the producers, but I have never done that. I have never manipulated my career," he said.

With such a busy schedule, how often did he holiday?

"I take a week off every three or four months. I have one annual holiday, which is a month long. I have divided my life very well and try to take six to seven holidays in a year to spend some quality time with my family," said the actor, who is married to actress Twinkle Khanna. The couple raises two children - a son and a daughter - together.

(Uma Ramasubramanian can be contacted at uma.sagit@gmail.com)