January 17th, 2009
Bollywood star talks about his first Hollywood release.
Akshay Kumar: Sometimes you just see a poster and you start liking it. There was no script at all. This guy comes with a poster and he got my photograph maybe from the net or something, and maybe one or two samurais and said okay. Then after that we hit upon the idea of making Chandni Chwok to China. I used my star power.
Crave Online: What's harder, dancing or fighting?
Akshay Kumar: Dancing. Dancing is very hard because I've trained myself in martial arts. So to do fighting is a little bit easier than dancing. Dancing, I can't dance to help myself. When I dance, it looks as if I'm fighting, so it's more like aerobics and things of that sort.
Crave Online: Do you see a similarity, doing both for movies?
Akshay Kumar: Well, I've enjoyed doing that and fortunately for this movie, they both combine very well.
Crave Online: What was it like shooting on the Great Wall of China?
Akshay Kumar: We were lucky enough to get it [a permit] actually. We were very lucky and we finished 15 days' work in seven days because we only had seven days permission. And the camera man gets upset all the time because it's sunny, it's raining, so he's so annoyed with the whole thing.
Crave Online: How about working with Gordon Liu?
Akshay Kumar: He's the master killer. Looking at 36th Chamber of Shaolin, okay. I used to be there with my friends creating chambers in my house where they had this box full of sand. We used to heat it up and put our hands inside, burn it off at the same time. There were other kinds of exercises. Have you all seen the film or am I just talking? Okay, it's a must film.
Crave Online: What did it mean to you to do martial arts with the master?
Akshay Kumar: It meant a great deal. I can't imagine in my life that something like this would happen. See, I was a waiter and a cook working in Thailand and I had three favorite people. I had three posters behind where I was working. One was Sri Devi, that's an Indian actress, a very big actress. Then I had Sylvester Stallone and then I had the 36th Chamber of Shaolin photograph. I used to just work there. The surprise of my life, how life could change, I have worked with all three of them. I'm so shocked at how things have changed. When he told me about it, I was absolutely [shocked]. I just sometimes keep on thinking, why didn't I keep more posters? So many other things also. Maybe that was a very magical wall.
Crave Online: Are there parallels between the movie and your life?
Akshay Kumar: Well, the character is the same. I play a waiter, a cook. Then how he goes to China to learn martial arts. So the characterization is the same. The script is different.
Crave Online: Will this be a trendsetter for martial arts in Bollywood?
Akshay Kumar: Yes, why not? It is going to. We had to come up with something different. Yeah, I'm sure you've never seen the first Bollywood kung fu film. People are going to like this combination or not like it. I have no idea.
Crave Online: What was it like choreographing the fight scenes with the wirework?
Akshay Kumar: Well, I've done all of that but never with Chinese guys. I thought I was very good at martial arts. I thought I was very good at cable work and all until I met these guys. And I found myself very slow in front of them. I broke my back by the way doing the cable work. I have a slipped disc problem because of that now.
Crave Online: How did you break your back?
Akshay Kumar: There was some cable work I was doing. I already had a slipped disc. That was about eight years back so it just came back.
Crave Online: Were you out of shooting?
Akshay Kumar: No, not at all.
Crave Online: What attracted you to martial arts?
Akshay Kumar: Sir Gordon Liu's movies. 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
Crave Online: what's your favorite?
Akshay Kumar: That's my favorite kung fu movie.
Crave Online: Are you exhausted doing 5-6 movies a year?
Akshay Kumar: I'm slowing down actually.
Crave Online: What movies did you watch to prepare?
Akshay Kumar: All the same films because they come in different names. It's the same film but comes in different names.
Crave Online: How many martial arts do you have?
Akshay Kumar: In my house? 300, 400.
Crave Online: Do you identify more with the loser or the hero?
Akshay Kumar: I have been both. You won't believe, I've done 120 films by now in 18 years of my career. 70 of them are flops, so I've played both.
Crave Online: Where does this movie rank?
Akshay Kumar: I rank this film as my best film.
Crave Online: How was your experience with Hollywood on this film?
Akshay Kumar: We just got everything, whatever we wanted. It's an honor working with them. I was actually, six months back, I was shooting in LA for a month. For 45 days I was here shooting. I finished a whole film, Kambakkht Ishq, at Universal Studios. That was great. It's all so organized. We learned quite a lot from here when we go back home. We try to put it back in Bollywood. Like I've taken a call sheet back home and I've showed them, "Let's make a call sheet like this."
Crave Online: Now that you've worked with Sylvester Stallone and Gordon Liu, who else do you want to work with?
Akshay Kumar: I'm going back to my magic wall and putting some more posters up. I'd rather not say and I'll just put a poster there quietly.
Crave Online: What about working with Deepika Padukone, a relative newcomer?
Akshay Kumar: I've not worked with her before. She just came into this industry about two years back. Her third film is this, didn't know anything about martial arts but she practiced for five months, practiced so much. You all have seen it, she's done a brilliant job.
