Exclusive: Akshay reacts to Salman's comment that he's bigger star than 3 Khans

Akshay Kumar is having a long and successful innings at the box-office, having spent 26 years in the film industry. “This is my 27th year,” informs the actor, adding, “My luck, a little bit of hard work, my family and of course, my fans have kept me going.”

City, an important market
In the city on Friday to promote Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Akshay says, “Hyderabad has been very kind to Hindi cinema. The market here is very important to my movies.”

Commercial actor
With movies like Toilet and Padman, Akshay has suddenly become a go-to actor for movies with a social cause, but he still considers himself a commercial hero. “Even when I did Holiday, it was commercial. Robo starring Rajinikanth is commercial. Toilet talks about socially relevant things but is still a commercial film. Commerciality is the father of all my movies,” he states.

On meeting NaMo
Apart from making movies around social causes, Akshay had previously pitched the idea of building a platform that could connect the common man with the families of martyrs. Recently, he was seen cheering for the Women’s cricket team during the World Cup. The actor even had a rendezvous with Narendra Modi. So, does he have any political aspirations? “Not at all. NaMo was kind enough to give me some time. He was happy that somebody is making a movie on toilets, which is a big problem in India. However, I don’t know if he’ll watch my movie as he has bigger problems to tackle,” he says.

Keeping family away from the limelight
Akshay insists that he likes to keep his family away from his movies. When asked about the rapport he shares with his kids, the actor says, “I keep my family away from films. Even when I post anything about my daughter, I never show her face. I try to hide her as much as possible,” he confesses.

On not repeating actresses
The actor manages about four movies a year while other actors manage just about one. “I’ve been doing it for 27 years, it’s just time management,” he says. And is it a conscious decision to not repeat his actresses? “It is all done by the director and the casting director and only comes to me later on. It has to go with the role,” he says.

‘Sallu is a bigger star’
Earlier, Salman Khan had called Akshay the bigger superstar for making the most amount of movies per year. But Akshay doesn’t quite agree. “I’m not. Everybody knows who the big superstar is. Salman is huge, his collections are huge and he is a pure commercial actor. He’s my senior,” says Akshay.

‘We support each other’.
“Everybody has the right to their opinion, but people in Bollywood do stand up for each other. For instance, when I posted about piracy, there were actors who shared the same views,” he states.

Upcoming movies
Talking about his future projects, Akshay shares that the film with Karan Johar and Salman is still on. He also adds that he has finished sho-oting for Robo and “it was an honour to be a villain and get beaten up by Rajinikanth.”

On being abused as a child
Speaking at the International Conference on Human Trafficking, Akshay Kumar revealed that he was touched inappropriately by a lift man when he was young. He went on to add that he had informed his parents about it and later found out that the same person was a habitual offender, highlighting why it’s important for parents and children to have easy conversations.