Dhoom’s newest bad guy

The industry was abuzz on Tuesday with the news that Akshay Kumar has been confirmed as the antagonist for Dhoom 4.

Many names have been tossed up earlier, from Shah Rukh to Salman Khan, but a few senior members of the trade cite highly placed sources confirming that it will indeed be Akshay after he signed on to play the lead in Prithviraj and the Dhoom 4 offer was a quid pro quo of sorts. “Akshay is doing really well. Adding to it that he is one of the best guys on the bike in the film industry apart from John Abraham. Akshay’s stunts, even today when he did some for Sooryavanshi, are being appreciated. So what is the harm in getting him to play the anti-hero along with Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra in the film?” opines a source.

However, there is no official word on this from Yash Raj Films, who prefer to keep mum and make a junta announcement only when the big man Aditya Chopra gives them the green signal.

Interestingly, John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan and Aamir Khan have played the roles of the antagonists before in Dhoom, Dhoom 2 and Dhoom 3 respectively, and none of them has been shown as ‘dead’ thus far.