Daily Times

Akshay Kumar starred in Baby (2015), which had a cameo by Taapsee Pannu. The cameo proved to be fruitful as the audience could not stop raving about Taapsee’s performance in the film, despite her limited screen time.

Subsequently, Akshay ended up doing a cameo in Naam Shabana (2017) for which he was applauded as not many A-list actors provide their support to female-driven movies.

The latest is Aamir Khan, who had a small role to play in Secret Superstar which primarily focused on Zaira Wasim’s character.

Talking to Pinkvilla about women-centric films and how times are changing for the same, Akshay stated, “It’s time the industry as a whole started giving that respect to our actresses. A film isn’t complete without a hero. Similarly, movies can’t be made without the heroine either. I would happily do these roles whenever necessary.”

As a producer and actor, Akshay wants to invest his time and money in making powerful films that have strong female presence. “As an actor and a producer, I get a lot of scripts every day. Some of them are good, others aren’t,” he said.

“Recently, there was one which dealt with the topic of dowry, which I really liked. But you have to get everything right, and that hasn’t happened yet.”

The actor said choosing scripts is like fishing. “You cast your net and wait… Sometimes you get something outstanding, sometimes you don’t. But yes, my team and I have discussed the idea of making a powerful film with a strong female character,” he stated.

Published in Daily Times, June 24^th 2018.