Akshay Kumar: I play the villain in Blue

Along with Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar is sitting pretty in the Top 5 bracket of leading men�in Bollywood today. And now the actor, who would soon be seen in Blue, is wondering if he wants to play the role of a hero for the rest of his life. After working in 100 odd movies and playing the role of a hero for more than 90% of his outings, he is now looking at exploring newer challenges. One such challenge is Blue where he proudly proclaims that he is playing the role of a villain.

"Yes, Sanjay Dutt is the hero of the film and I am the villain. Period," Akshay Kumar sets the record straight here when questioned about the two hero theory surrounding the film.

Is he being diplomatic? "No, not at all," he says with a straight face, "I could have easily said that Blue is a film about two heroes but how can I say that when it is not the fact? The subject itself is such that there has to be a hero and a villain in the film. I fill in the slot of the latter."

In his last outing as an out and out villain, Abbas-Mustan directed Ajnabee [2001], he got quite some accolades coming his way. Now he is expected to repeat a similar feat. "Yes, in Ajnabee, Bobby Deol was the hero and I was the villain. I even got a Filmfare award for my performance. It was nice to receive a trophy for playing a villain's role rather than a hero. Then again in Khakee, it was Bachchan saab who was the hero. I had a small part to play in the film, that of a corrupt cop. But I found it interesting and did it," Akshay goes down the memory lane here.

Ever since then, Akshay Kumar has looked at experimenting with his role and played quite a few characters that had grey shades to them. Whether it is Bewafa or his recent release 8x10 Tasveer, he has tried to experiment with his roles and performances.

He also has another special reason for declaring his part in Anthony D'Souza directed Blue as a villain. "I guess it brings certain inquisitiveness amongst the audience when we say that the film has a hero and a villain. It brings in a different kind of excitement," reasons Akshay. "It makes not just audiences look forward to what the film is all about but even an actor. See, for last two odd decades, I have done around 100 odd films and played a hero in most of them. I am tired of playing a hero's role. I want to do something new and Blue gives me that platform."

Another point of discussion surrounding the film has been an alleged cold war between him and Sanjay Dutt that has been on for more than a decade. Since the shooting of Blue commenced (around a year back), there were talks about tension between Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar. While it continued to keep the tabloids happy, it also resulted in some precious time being lost for the actors to justify to the entire world that all was well.

Does he wish to comment on the 'issue'? "I guess we all -- and by that I mean people attached to the film as well as the members of the media -- have wasted quite some time in all the speculations and rumours. I have already stated that things are absolutely normal between Sanjay Dutt and me. Still people out there seem to be so interested in knowing of there is trouble brewing between us. I wish to state for once and for all that we are good together," he comments.

Also starring Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutta and Zayed Khan along with Katrina Kaif and Kylie Minogue, Blue,�produced by Dhillin Mehta and has music by A.R. Rahman, would be seeing a massive worldwide release on 16th October.

Courtesy: Bollywood Hungama