Two of Akshay Kumar's biggest hits last year, Airlift and Rustom, were based on true stories, and so is his latest film, the sequel, Jolly LLB 2. Does this signal a shift in his moviemaking preferences?
“It is great to do films that are inspired by true events, because you are taking the life of someone who has already lived through it,” he says.
"People also want to know about real-life instances. For example, when I did Airlift, a lot of people did not know that 170,000 people were stuck in Kuwait in 1990 and they were airlifted, and people now know about it.
“So it’s like history has been shown to people in a very cinematic way, and I love to do that.”
Kumar and co-star Huma Qureshi visited Bollywood Parks Dubai on Saturday to promote Jolly LLB 2.
The actor, who shot parts of his films Baby and Airlift in the UAE, revealed that he will be back in Dubai in December to shoot a new film, but was keeping the details close to his chest for now. He also said it is always a pleasure to come to the UAE to promote his work.
“It means a lot,” he says. “The kind of love and affection I get here is amazing. It is a great honour to be here and to showcase my films.
“Dubai is a big market for us. It has always been a big, though it used to be smaller than the United Kingdom – but not anymore.”
In Jolly LLB 2, Kumar plays Jolly Jagdishwar Mishra, a lawyer from the lower court in the Indian city of Lucknow.
“The courtroom scenes in the film are very real,” he says. “This is exactly how it happens. The director of the film, Subhash Kapoor, used to be a political journalist and is very aware of the realities of the lower courts.
"There is no unnecessary melodrama [of the type] that we have come to expect [in Indian films]. If you have seen Jolly LLB, you will know it was very realistic, and so is this."
However, this is where the similarities between the films end.
“The cases are completely different in both films, and the films are not connected in any way,” says Kumar.
“The first was set in Meerut and Delhi, and this is set in Kanpur and Lucknow.”
Qureshi, who plays Jolly’s wife, Pushpa, was full of praise for her co-star.
“Every day was an adventure on the set,” she says. “I was amazed at how hardworking and disciplined he is, and how fun he makes it to work with him. I always heard other actresses talk about it [and then] I actually experienced it myself, how amazing it is working with him.”
Kumar, who is known to be very disciplined and careful about this health, seems to have inspired Qureshi.
“It is hard to be around him and not think about your fitness in very practical and very doable terms,” she says. “Because being fit is not as difficult as it is made out to be.
“He has broken it down in very simple terms. I have never seen him follow a strict diet – he eats everything. He encourages people around him to eat everything, and you need to lead a proper disciplined life when you are working. Like how parents ask children to follow a timetable, I think he pretty much does that. So he is like a schoolboy in that sense.”
Kumar adds that his biggest health secret is eating his last meal for the day no later than 6.30pm.
With four films lined up for release this year – Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Robot 2.0 with Rajinikanth, Naam Shabana (which he is producing and has a cameo in), and Padman – Kumar has no plans to try to break into Hollywood.
“I am very happy working in this industry. I produce and act in films and I have a good reputation here, and I would not want to go anywhere.”
• Jolly LLB 2 is in cinemas from Thursday. For more from Kumar and Qureshi’s visit to Bollywood Parks Dubai, click here
ajhurani@thenational.ae
