Akshay Kumar’s Heroine Strategy, No Permanent Co-stars

Akshay Kumar’s leading ladies show  a lot of variety in the films he has done in recent times. While earlier he went through prolonged phases of on-screen coupling with Priyanka Chopra, then Katrina Kaifand Sonakshi Sinha, now it’s a free-for-all with leading ladies selected at random in Akshay starrers.

The process started with Special 26 in which he was paired with KajalAgarwal who had made no impact with the Ajay Devgan blockbusterSingham. Then in 2014 Akshay was seen with Tamannah Bhatia inEntertainment, followed by Madhurima Tuli in Baby .Then it wasShruti Haasan in Gabbar Is Back, Jacqueline Fernandez in Brothers, Amy Jackson in Singh Is Bling, Nimrat Kaur in Airlift, Eleana D’Cruz in Rustom and  now Huma Qureshi in Jolly LLB 2.Akshay has the relatively unknown Bhumi Pednekar as his co-star in the forthcomingToilet Ek Prem Katha.

A  trade analyst who doesn’t wish to be named says, “After Akshaywent through the  Priyanka-Katrina-Sonakshi route he changed his stance regarding his leading ladies. Henceforth he would act with new faces in every film. This serves three purposes. There is a fresh pair inevert film that he does. Secondly, the girls are neither very successful nor too unknown, hence just right to be cast in secondary parts whileAkshay takes centrestage in all his films. Thirdly by doing films opposite  fresh faces Akshay avoids the pitfalls of being linked with any woman. By the time the gossip would start he moves on to another new face and he never repeats his co-stars these days.”

When I had asked Akshay some time ago about the slew of  new faces in his films he has replied, “What impels me to work with new faces is change. Keeping my audiences intrigued is a very important part in keeping them interested  in my career.When I star opposite a fresh face the audience has no idea what kind of connection we’ll have.”