I'm a real desi boy: Akshay Kumar

"I want to produce commercial films. But if I get a good script, I would love to make a National Award-winning movie," Akshay, 44, who has spent two decades in Bollywood, told IANS in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.

The actor is all set to put a lid on 2011 with "Desi Boyz". Releasing Nov 25, the film will see him teaming up with John Abraham as a co-star. Directed by Rohit Dhawan, the son of director David Dhawan, "Desi Boyz" also has Deepika Padukone and Chitrangada Singh in the female leads.

Akshay, a Punjabi who has spent many years in Delhi, says he has always been a "desi" at heart and his recent decision of communicating in Hindi shouldn't be taken as a marketing gimmick.

"I have always tried to speak in Hindi. It is because in real life I am a real 'desi' boy. All my life I have believed that the day should start with touching the feet of my parents, that home cooked food is always better than outside food. I have always preferred ghar ka parantha to anything from outside," he said.

"Even if we go out for a movie, I prefer to watch Hindi films over English. So it was there in me, always. I am very grounded that way," he added. The crackling chemistry of Akshay and John was the highlight of "Garam Masala" and Akshay says his friend and co-star has improved a lot since then.

"We are coming back together on the big screen after six long years. We were not offered any movies together during that period. While shooting for this film, we had much more fun than we had in 'Garam Masala'. So, we were wondering why no one ever thought of casting us together all these years," said Akshay.

"We have become quite good friends now. And, trust me, John has improved a lot since then, especially his comedy timings. The way he has improved his muscles, his comedy timing has also improved," he added.

From being an action hero to doing comedies, Akshay tried different things and in his upcoming film "Desi Boyz" he will be seen stripping and doing pole dancing. And what he liked about his character, Jerry Patel, is that it was a different role.

"I had a lot of fun while doing this movie. First of all I haven't played this kind of character ever. When the role was narrated to me, I knew this was something I wanted to do. And, secondly, its director Rohit Dhawan told me the film is based on the real-life incident of two people who had to take extreme paths to survive during recession," he said.

The action-comedy deals with how the life of two friends turns upside down when recession hits Britain and they are left with no choice but to strip and pole dance for a living. And then the story has its twists and turns.

Akshay made his mark with hits like "Khiladi", "Ajnabee", "Hera Pheri" and "Namastey London" and is all set to entertain his fans with interesting projects like "Joker", "Rowdy Rathore" and "Housefull 2" next year.

He turned producer in 2010 with "Tees Mar Khan" and later produced "Patiala House" and "Thank You" as well. Even though these films flopped at the box-office, Akshay is undeterred.

"I will always do a film I believe in, I can connect to and my fans can relate to it as well. So even if 'Patiala House' didn't do well commercially, it was critically acclaimed. I was close to the film because it dealt with the emotional bond between a father and a son," he said.

He made his presence felt with "Thank You" and "Speedy Singhs" this year and he was also seen in a special appearance in "Chalo Dilli".