At the end of Ajnabee the villain dies on the anchor of a ship. It is a grim finish for a character who spends the film framing the hero for the murder of his own wife. The man playing him was Akshay Kumar, then one of Bollywood’s most dependable heroes, and the role earned him his first Filmfare Award.
The role that changed the script
Ajnabee came out in 2001. Kumar played Vikram Bajaj, the mastermind behind the plot, opposite Bobby Deol as the hero. Kareena Kapoor was in the cast, and Bipasha Basu made her debut in it. Hero turning villain is a gamble anywhere. Here it paid off: Kumar took the Filmfare award for Best Villain at the 2002 ceremony, and the same performance also won him Best Villain at the IIFA Awards and a villain award from the Sansui Viewers’ Choice Movie Awards.
From Chandni Chowk to the Khiladi films
He was born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia on 9 September 1967 in the Chandni Chowk area of Old Delhi. His father was an Army officer who later became an accountant with UNICEF, and the family settled in Bombay. Rajiv went to Don Bosco High School in Matunga and learned karate there. Later he asked his father to send him to Thailand, and he spent five years in Bangkok studying Muay Thai while working as a chef and a waiter.
Back home he taught martial arts, and the father of one of his students suggested modelling. His first screen appearance was a small part as a karate instructor in Aaj in 1987. The stage name Akshay Kumar came from a character played by Kumar Gaurav. He got his first leading role in Saugandh in 1991, and the next year the Abbas-Mustan thriller Khiladi turned him into an action star and launched a whole series. The stunts he did himself earned him the nickname “Khiladi Kumar”.
The path was not smooth. He appeared in 11 films in 1994, among them Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Mohra and the romance Yeh Dillagi, which brought him a first Filmfare Best Actor nomination. Then came a run of commercial failures, and Sangharsh and Jaanwar in 1999 marked the comeback.
Comedy, and more trophies
From 2000 he stretched into romance with Dhadkan and into comedy with Hera Pheri. Critics and audiences warmed to his timing. In 2005 he was nominated in three Filmfare categories and won none, but the next year he took the Best Comedian award for playing Mac in Garam Masala, where his pairing with John Abraham drew praise. At the 2007 ceremony hosts Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan handed out joke trophies called the Na-Real Awards. Kumar won the “Mal Function” award and made his entrance by sliding down a pole.
By now he has more than 150 film appearances behind him. Few actors in Hindi cinema have been busier, and the villain who died on a ship’s anchor started the second act of that career.
Sources
- Akshay Kumar's best moments at Filmfare Awards; from Best Villain to Na-Real Award (Republic World)
- When Akshay Kumar played the villain in 'Ajnabee' and faced off against Bobby Deol (MensXP)
- Akshay Kumar – Age, Biography, Movies & Latest News (AllYourChoice)
