Akshay Kumar Speaks : “We Are All Duffers Underneath”

The actor, who played `the dude` in films like `Blue` and `Kambakkth Ishq`, does not believe that he is breaking away from his well guarded on as well as off-screen image of a macho man.

“When it comes to playing a loser, I enjoy it more than any macho role I have had to play. Is it difficult? Oh certainly yes. But then talking about real life, we are all duffers underneath anyways,” Akshay told reporters in an interview. The 42-year-old actor, who has always prided himself to be the man of the masses who loves to make commercial cinema, says he loves to play underdog.

“We may put on some cool macho act to woo the ladies and be the dude of the room. However, all us men would be losers if we were left to our own devices. That`s the reason
why I love to play the underdog

“Not many men would like to be ugly and unfortunate loser. In fact why just off the screen, even on the screen while enacting the character, they would avoid doing that. But then to me, there is nothing more real than playing an average Joe,” he says.

Akshay has been experimenting with such roles in films like `Chandni Chowk To China` and `Jaan-E-Mann`, where he had played a geek.

“In `Jaan-E-Mann`, I was re-enacting a childhood geek. On the other hand in `Housefull`, I am literally playing the unluckiest guy on planet. I get kicked, punched, burnt alive, run over, dumped, thrown out, spanked and even drowned in the film. And that`s not all as there is a lot more. That`s how unfortunate I am!”

“Thank God for no Afro wigs or braces this time around”, jokes Akshay who saw mixed response coming his way for his characterisation and performance in `Jaan-E-Mann`.

“There are no fairy tale endings here”, Akshay sets the record straight, “Having said that, I have to say this that behind every man there is always a great woman. Even in the film, I spend my whole life looking for the woman that loves me for the duffer that I am and someone who can perhaps change my luck forever. Now whether I find her or lose her or even marry her is something that no one knows about that. Well, at least not yet!”

Coming back to the entire `cool quotient` which is not attached to his character in the film, Akshay says that a lot of this has to do with what an individual is surrounded by rather than his own being.

“Let`s look at it this way. If you take away my beautiful wife, my flashy cars, my designer clothes, especially my leather jacket and favourite Aviator sunglasses, I will simply be just another brick in the wall. We have all been there and no one was born cool, not even James—what was his name? Well yeah, I remember now - Bond`,” says Akshay.