Threat is not from South, it’s from Hollywood: Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar, who is teaming up with Siddharth Malhotra in the upcoming film Brothers, says that it was tough work.

“We all had bruises; we shed blood and sweat for the characters. Siddharth and I would have to lie in an ice bath compulsorily for almost 15 minutes. We had to acclimatise ourselves before getting all these bruises,” he says about the action-emotional film.

Despite the stupendous success of Baahubali, Akshay says that Bollywood need not be threatened by the South film industry. “I do not see any threat. Let’s not divide ourselves, we are all one. In fact, we have a grave threat from Hollywood. They have huge finances and, therefore, can engage the services of better technical crew. If we had so much money we could have done it here. For example, look at British cinema, they have literally been swept away because of Hollywood.

“However, compared to the past, we are doing a good job, but we need to do a lot more. Being compared to Hollywood... that is the biggest threat.”

About AIB’s recent spoof of his song Party All Night — featuring Irrfan Khan, which has gone viral — Akshay says, “Yes, I have watched the video. I belong to a different school, I would not like to make fun of others. But having said that, it is a personal choice. We belong to a free country… like you guys can also pick up your pen and write whatever you want.”

But should Irrfan, who is known to be a serious actor, have done such a spoof? “You should ask Irrfan, not me. Each one has their own mindset, I can’t comment on that.”

About his wife Twinkle’s popular columns, we ask him whether he gives any inputs. “I ask her to delete some portions sometimes, which may hurt somebody’s sentiments, that’s all. I do not sit down and correct the spellings etc.”