Akshay Kumar’s films have been doing poorly at the box office. (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Unfortunately, Sarfira met the same destiny as his dozen failed movies, proving detrimental to his bankability in the last five years. Despite its big budget and star cast, the film opened to a first-day collection of Rs 2.5 crores, even making Akshay’s star power questionable. Well, that has been the case for a while now with his whole lot of movies released after his 2021 film Sooryavanshi. Except for OMG 2, the actor’s recent movie lineups have incurred huge losses to producers alluding to a sinking career.
Things have not been favorable for Akshay ever since his major films including Bell Bottom, Atrangi Re, Bachchhan Paandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan, Ram Setu, Selfiee, Mission Raniganj and Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan tanked at the box office. Regardless of his good performances, the films had below-average box office openings and catastrophic lifetime earnings. The unavoidable box office clashes, poor scripts, inadequate promotions, South remakes or jam-packed release calendars might be cited as reasons behind the failures. Nevertheless, these multiple and consecutive flops cannot be overlooked owing to the nature of the business in which the stakes are high and uncertainty looms large.
Akshay’s shocking downfall
With each passing year, the actor is wearing off his durability taking into account the net loss incurred by his latest commercial releases. As per self-proclaimed critic Kamaal R Khan, the collaboration with Akshay has cost producers a whopping loss of Rs 600 crores allegedly. Despite being an established actor, such numbers disparage one’s reputation and longevity in the business. Currently, every hero has been pulling off better footfalls than him no matter what. Even Munjya, a film with no star sold more tickets than Sarfira which struggled to draw even 1-2 lakh footfalls. Despite fairly good media reviews, the box office collection was more disastrous than his previously released Mission Raniganj and Selfiee. His downfall has been evident among the audience for quite some time now. No wonder why a major section of people have been slamming the actor for his debacles and suggesting retirement on social media.
It is not the first time that Akshay has faced a low phase in his career. Back in time, he had 16 consecutive flops but he stood there and came out stronger with a solid strategy. In the recent media interaction, the actor acknowledged his strings of flops and talked about his resilience. “It is not that I have not seen (this phase before), but I stood there and kept on working and I’ll still do that. We keep on trying for every type of film. I don’t stick to one kind of genre. I keep on jumping from one genre to another, whether there is success or no success, that’s how I have always worked. I’ll keep on doing it, something that is social, something that is good, something in comedy, in action,” he was quoted as saying at the trailer launch of Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan.
Once a hit machine, now disaster king
Much like his contemporaries Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Ajay Devgn, the Khiladi actor has reigned Bollywood across generations ever since his debut in 1991. Over time, he earned the ‘hit machine’ tag by registering major blockbusters in his impressive filmography. Between 1992 and 1999, he established himself as an action hero with movies like Mohra (1994), his Khiladi series, including Khiladi (1992), Main Khiladi Tu Anadi (1994), Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995), Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996) and Mr and Mrs Khiladi (1997). Some of his other 1990s releases did not fare well at the box office, leading to a momentary setback in his career. He dived into the comedy genre to redeem himself at the box office with hits like Garam Masala (2005), Phir Hera Pheri (2006), Bhagam Bhag (2006), Heyy Babyy (2007), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), Welcome (2007), Singh Is King (2008), Housefull (2010), Housefull 2 (2012), Rowdy Rathore (2012), and OMG: Oh My God! (2012).
In the latter half, Akshay’s inclination towards movies with social messages also worked in his favor. Between 2016 and 2019, he ruled with movies consistently opening strong at the box office. Films like Airlift (2016), Housefull 3 (2016), Rustom (2016), Jolly LLB 2 (2017), Toilet Ek Prem Katha (2017), Gold (2018), 2.0 (2018), grossed over Rs 100 crores lifetime collection as per reports. In 2019, he had four superhits – Kesari, Mission Mangal, Housefull 4, and Good Newwz, where each film drew a net collection of Rs 200 crores upon release. Sadly, his commercial success was jinxed in the post-pandemic era with only Sooryavanshi and OMG 2 being his saving grace.
Coming back to the present situation, Akshay must introspect as lately his films are struggling to pull audiences to the theaters. Notably, every actor has a dull phase in their career, but his downfall is distressing. Even his contemporaries performed comparably better in such situations. For instance, Shah Rukh witnessed his least-hyped films making an above-average opening. Even Salman Khan’s average films have opened with Rs 10 crore first-day collection approximately. It is high time that the Khiladi actor goes back to his old ways to delight the audience and revive his failing career.
Can Akshay Kumar turn the tables once again?
Akshay can make a solid comeback as he did in 2006 by reclaiming his title of Bollywood’s king of comedy. While reviewing his career graph, one can easily infer that it has always been the comedy films that rescued him. He has always been the first-choice hero for the genre among producers as well as audiences. Unlike his contemporaries, he ruled the silver screen with one blockbuster after another with his impeccable comic timing, slapstick humor, rib-tickling antics and clever one-liners. His strength in comedy can help him regain bankability and win back die-hard fans and viewers. Secondly, the actor should work on his release calendar while smartly managing his visibility. There is noticeable mental fatigue in the audience because his films are released every few months.
Akshay has recently mentioned that he is returning to the comedy genre. The actor has several multi-starrer films in the pipeline which is expected to change the game for him. Next month, he has a situational comedy Khel Khel Mein helmed by Mudassar Aziz. The film, which is an official adaptation of the 2016 Italian comedy thriller Perfect Strangers, revolves around a group of friends unexpectedly revealing secrets about each other. The film also features Taapsee Pannu, Ammy Virk, and Fardeen Khan among others. Besides this, Akshay has three sequels to his hit franchises – Housefull 5, Welcome to the Jungle and Jolly LLB 3. He is headlining another film Skyforce, which is based on India’s retaliatory attack on the Sargodha air base of Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani air war of 1965. The film also has Veer Pahariya, Nimrat Kaur, Sara Ali Khan, and Sharad Kelkar in the lead roles. He will also be seen making a cameo in Ajay Devgn starrer Singham Again. Hopefully, these films will manage to wash out the drought so that he reclaims his place among profitable actors.
