Akshay Kumar turns 59

He was the outcome audiences could bank on.

At 59, that certainty may finally be shifting.

In “Haiwaan”, set to hit theatres on Sept 11, Akshay plays a psychopath opposite Saif Ali Khan’s hero.

This time, he is not the man audiences are meant to root for. He is the threat.

For an actor whose screen image has been built over three decades around reliability, physicality and heroism, it marks a striking reversal.

Akshay is not treating it as a novelty either.

In a recent interview with Variety India, he said he had stopped worrying about protecting the conventional hero image he spent years building.

His reasoning was simple: an actor’s job is to keep surprising the audience �" and himself.

That outlook may explain Akshay’s career better than any box-office figure.

After years of perfecting the Khiladi image, he now seems interested in stretching it.

The Man Behind the Nickname

Long before the fame, Akshay was Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, a boy from Amritsar who trained in martial arts and worked in Bangkok before finding his way into films.

He has often spoken about those early years, including a stint waiting tables before his acting career took off.

Then came “Khiladi” in 1992, the action thriller that helped turn him into a star and gave him the nickname that would follow him for decades: Khiladi Kumar.

It suited him.

His early filmography leaned heavily into action, stunts and physically demanding roles, while his discipline and fitness gradually became almost as closely associated with him as the films themselves.

But the more significant achievement was that he did not remain only an action star.

The Khiladi Learns to Be Funny

If “Khiladi” made him a name, “Hera Pheri” showed audiences another side of him.

As Raju, Akshay demonstrated that the same actor known for action could also carry comedy through timing, expressions and physical humour.

The performance opened up a new phase of his career.

“Garam Masala”, “Mujhse Shaadi Karogi”, “Bhool Bhulaiyaa”, “Welcome”, “Housefull” and “Phir Hera Pheri” helped establish him as one of Hindi cinema’s most dependable comic leads.

The lesson was one he would return to repeatedly: do not let audiences become too certain about what comes next.

Then Came the Social Films

Akshay’s next reinvention was more serious.

He began choosing projects that wrapped mainstream entertainment around social, political or national themes.

“Special 26”, “Baby”, “Airlift”, “Rustom” and “Jolly LLB 2” pushed him further away from straightforward action-comedy territory.

Then came “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha” and “Pad Man”.

One tackled sanitation, while the other placed menstrual hygiene at the centre of a mainstream Hindi film.

Not every experiment worked commercially, but the direction was clear.

Akshay was increasingly using his star power to take subjects usually considered difficult or unconventional into mainstream cinema.

The Numbers Are a Story of Their Own

Akshay’s other defining trait has been sheer output.

While many of his peers built careers around scarcity, spacing films years apart, Akshay often released several in a single year.

That relentless pace translated into significant earnings.

Forbes estimated his 2020 celebrity earnings at $48.5 million, placing him among Bollywood’s highest earners.

Forbes India has also repeatedly ranked him among the country’s best-paid celebrities, pointing to income from both films and endorsements.

Indian media reports have estimated his net worth at around Tk 27 billion, though celebrity wealth figures are generally based on media estimates rather than audited disclosures.

His Real Secret Weapon May Be Discipline

Akshay’s daily routine has become almost as well known as his films.

Marking his 59th birthday, Marathi publication Loksatta revisited his famously strict lifestyle, reporting that he typically wakes between 4am and 4:30am and is asleep by around 9:30pm.

The report also highlighted his early dinners, fitness regime and dietary habits.

That discipline has become part of the Akshay Kumar image.

While much of the film industry keeps late hours, Akshay has built a reputation around structure, fitness and routine.

It fits the Khiladi persona: control over his body, his schedule and, for much of his career, his screen image.

The Awards Tell One Story

Akshay won the National Film Award for Best Actor for “Rustom” in 2017 and received the Padma Shri in 2009 for his contribution to Indian cinema.

But awards capture only part of his longevity.

He has survived changing audience tastes, shifts in Bollywood’s economics, the rise of streaming, younger competition and periods when his own films struggled at the box office.

Through all of it, he kept making films.

Then Came the Controversies

The Khiladi brand has not been without controversy.

Akshay’s Canadian citizenship became a recurring political talking point in India until he obtained Indian citizenship in 2023.

He also faced criticism in 2022 over an advertisement for Vimal Elaichi, a brand associated with a tobacco company.

Akshay later apologised and said he would step away from the endorsement.

Some of his films have also drawn criticism over politics, historical accuracy and the causes they champion.

But controversy, like box-office setbacks, has rarely kept him away from screens for long.

The Most Interesting Akshay Story Is Happening Now

That brings the story back to “Haiwaan”.

Director Priyadarshan told The Times of India that Akshay was not originally attached to the project, with Saif Ali Khan already on board.

Akshay reportedly pitched himself for the darker role while working with Priyadarshan on “Bhoot Bangla”.

This time, however, Akshay is not the comic lead or conventional hero.

He is the threat.

Akshay told The Times of India that conversations with police officers helped him understand that real psychopaths often blend in rather than openly signal danger.

Priyadarshan encouraged the same approach, leading Akshay to play the role with greater restraint and fewer theatrics.

For an actor whose career has often relied on physicality and visible energy, it represents another shift.

So What's Left for Him?

Perhaps the villain is what is left.

Akshay has already been the action hero, comic lead, romantic star, socially conscious performer, producer and one of Bollywood’s most prolific leading men.

Now he is testing what happens when audiences are not meant to like him.

“Haiwaan” is the first test, while reports that he may take on another negative role in “Golmaal 5” suggest the experiment may not end there.

Akshay does not need a new nickname.

He already has the one that made him famous.

The question now is how much further Khiladi Kumar can stretch it.