Women are the superior gender: Akshay Kumar

Is it sheer coincidence, pure conspiracy or a
publicity stunt that whenever Akshay Kumar has a film ready for release, the
action star gets embroiled in some controversy that takes on national
proportions and gets played out on all channels with full drama? It happened
before Chandni Chowk To China and, earlier, Singh Is Kinng. Now just after the
Khiladi’s new big film hit the screens yesterday, Akshay is in the thick of two
burning issues relating to a promo for Sajid Nadiadwala’s July release Kambhakth
Ishq and his being a somewhat daring showstopper at the Lakme Fashion Week for
designer Tarun Tahiliani on Monday. According to his detractors, the Kambhakth
Ishq promo has Akshay holding the sexy Kareena Kapoor suggestively with his
lines reading, “Women are good for only one thing…”

The film promo, released on March 27, has tongues
wagging in disapproval already. And at fashion week, well, his walking the ramp
in jeans that were unbuttoned partially by wife Twinkle sitting among the
frontbenchers, has led to a social worker filing a complaint with the police
against the actor, his wife, the LFW organisers and also the hotel where the
event was held for indecent, vulgar and obscene behaviour.The police is
uncertain whether it has a case. And legal experts vary between being vague
about the law and dismissive of the complaint. But Akshay is furious. These
aren’t publicity stunts, he declared. Earlier when dragged through similar
fires, the actor scoffed at the attempts to defame him as being the work of a
leading contemporary in Bollywood who was insecure about his meteoric rise in
the film industry. But this time, while not taking names and hinting that he
knew who was behind the exercise, Akshay is determined to prove a point.

Apologising if the jeans-being-unbuttoned stunt hurt anybody’s sentiments, he
said that the entire act was part of the storyboard and was no big deal —
thereby shooting down the rumour that it was done at the last minute because SRK
was going to be Manish Malhotra’s showstopper later that night. And of the
Kambhakth Ishq promo, again he chose to take the actor’s way out by saying, “Why
do people forget that actors play roles, enact parts and deliver lines to get
reactions… they are never personal?”

The promo, incidentally, gives only half the line. “Wait for the complete
line,” advised Akshay, “then women will be glad to know how the jerk I portray
eventually sees the value and importance of the superior gender — the woman!”