By Admin 
Akshay Kumar is the superstar of Bollywood. He is also considered the most bankable actor of Hindi cinema. The image of Akshay Kumar, who has made a place in the hearts of the audience with many super duper hit films in his career so far, has once again come under question. In fact, filmmaker and producer Shailendra Singh has described the actor as “greedy for money” and “a businessman first, an actor later”.
‘Akshay is a good person, But are very business-oriented’
In his latest interview with Siddharth Kannan, filmmaker Shailendra talked about his experience of working with Akshay in the 2009 film 8 x 10 Tasveer, and also how the failure of this project reportedly turned him away from filmmaking altogether. Shailendra clarified that his comments against Akshay Kumar were not due to any personal bitterness. In fact, she described Akshay as a “lovely person” with whom she had a friendly relationship, and they often played sports together.
Shailendra recalled, “When I got a chance to make a film with him, I was happy.” He told that the 8 x 10 picture, directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, was made at a time when both Akshay and Nagesh were at the heights of success. However, things soon went out of hand.
30 crore The film caused huge loss
Shailendra said, the 8 x 10 picture was initially planned as a modest Rs 30-35 crore film, which was to be shot in Munnar. But due to adjustment of Akshay’s busy schedule, there was a lot of change in the production plan. “From Munnar we went to Calgary, then Cape Town, then many other places,” he said. And told that due to continuous travel the budget increased a lot. The film was released soon after Akshay’s blockbuster Singh Is Kinng (2008), but unlike that film, the 8 x 10 picture was a “complete flop” at the box office.
Even after the film flopped, Akshay recovered the full fee.
Shailendra claimed that after the film flopped, he had requested Akshay to return some part of the fees in view of the loss. He recalled, “I told him, ‘Brother, no one came to watch your film. You have to take some responsibility. You have taken a lot of money from me.'” Shailendra revealed that Akshay refused to return any amount. He said, “I didn’t get anything back. After that, I stopped making films.”
Akshay is first a businessman then an actor
Shailendra further revealed that Akshay is very strategic when it comes to money. He said, “He starts slowly, then gradually increases his fees. From Rs 15 crore to Rs 21 crore, then Rs 27 crore, then suddenly it becomes Rs 36 crore because his lucky number is 9. He knows what he is doing. He is a businessman first, then an actor.” Shailendra also revealed that he had given Rs 9 crore to Akshay to appear in a song in his animated film Jumbo
‘Singh is king‘ title dispute
Shailendra further told that he had actually given the idea of Singh Is King to Akshay and he had also thought of the title. However, after the film became a huge hit, he claimed that he had to fight a legal battle to regain ownership of the title. He said, “There was no way to return it. I had to file a case against them to get it back.” He further said that finally he won the case and now he has the title.
John Abraham also did not take any responsibility for the film being a flop.
Interestingly, Shailendra also mentioned actor John Abraham. He said that when John’s film Ashaye flopped at the box office, he also did not take financial responsibility. Despite repeated requests, Shailendra claimed that neither of the actors returned any part of their fees.