Superstars no longer rule box office: Akshay Kumar

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar feels the era of films riding on popularity of big stars is gone and at present films with solid content are ruling the box office.

"It is not that if a name of a big star is attached to a movie it will automatically become hit. Only good films do well. If the script, the content is good then film works. Films of even big actors don't work at box office sometimes.

"Gone are the days when films of superstars did well or ruled the box office all the time," Akshay said in an interview here.

The 46-year-old also said he does not believe in categorisation of actors.
"It's all about script and whoever is part of the film and does a good job (acts well). At the end of the day it's the script that matters... No artist is small today. I don't consider anyone small," he said.

Akshay would be seen next in Anthony D'souza's 'Boss', which is the remake of Malayalam movie 'Pokkiri Raja'.

"When I saw the movie I loved it. The film has entertainment, comedy and 12 sequences of hardcore action. It is the story of two brothers and father, which is the prime reason for me to do the story. I shared great rapport with my father and that's why I made films like 'Waqt', 'Ek Rishta', 'Janwaar'. This is my fourth film in this space," the actor said.

About his bonding with son Aarav, Akshay said, "We share a very good bond. He likes all my films. A son likes all his father's films, for him his father is a Superman. He likes action films."

Akshay said 'Boss' has some toughest action sequences and stunts.

"The film is deliberately made into hand-to-hand combat because I feel cable fights are going out of fashion. We have seen enough of this thing when a hero gives one punch hundreds of people fall around.

"In this film, we wanted to have raw action so we decided to have close contact fight. We have a six-minute action scene in the climax between me and the villains and without any henchmen," the actor said.

For 'Boss', Akshay has teamed up for the second time with Anthony D'Souza, director of 'Blue', who he says has a lot of potential if given right script.

"I don't think technically there are many directors who can do something like him. He is outstanding in this space. If given the right script, Anthony can come up with flying colours," he said.

Akshay said he still lamented over 'Blue' not doing well at box office despite being technically superior.

"I think his first film 'Blue' was technically far more superior then any other films. As no one could ever think about treasure hunt, sharks, underwater fights. But unfortunate part is the film did not do well. Even though the film did not do well I still trusted him and went ahead to work with him in 'Boss'," he added.