The debate around older male actors romancing young female actors has been going around social media for some time now. It’s not unusual to see a 53-year-old Salman Khan paired opposite a 21-year-old Saiee Manjrekar, and now even Akshay Kumar, who is 52, will be seen romancing Manushi Chillar, who is 22.
In an interaction with the media, he was asked about his views on the same and the actor sidestepped the question by saying that he has worked with Rekha, Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit too. Now, it’s worth noticing that Madhuri is the same age as Akshay, and so was Sridevi.
“When I came in the film industry, I had done this. I acted with Rekha ji, Sridevi ji, Madhuri ji. Toh maine toh kaam kiya hua hai, baaki female actors ki films zyada kyun nahi hain aisi, woh toh aap unse puchiye (So, I have worked with them. Now, why have the other female actors haven’t done more of such films, that you’ll have to ask them)”Akshay Kumar
The Housefull actor also, recently, commented on misogyny and the romanticising of stalking in films. He said, “A film should be just taken as a film. You come and pay for a ticket and enjoy. Don’t take it so seriously. Playing a negative character doesn’t mean that I’m trying to teach you negative (behaviour). I’m an actor. And censor board has passed that, then what is the problem?”
Akshay recently took to Twitter to condemn the rape and murder of a young veterinarian in Hyderabad. Some Twitter users took the opportunity to point out the dissonance between his sentiments and instances of casual sexism in his films.
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