Prachita Pandey (DNA; March 29, 2017)

Akshay Kumar has announced his latest film, Mogul, based on the life of a late music baron. The biopic sees him reuniting with his Jolly LLB 2 helmer Subhash Kapoor. With the latest film, Akki has signed three biopics this year, the other two being Pad Man (based on the life of social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham) and Gold (a sports biopic on former hockey captain Balbir Singh).

Going by his recent filmography, the actor has made a habit of picking films based on real-life incidents/people. Be it Special 26 (inspired by a real-life jewellery heist conducted by a conman posing as a Central Bureau of Investigation official), Airlift (the biggest human evacuation from war-torn Kuwait) or Rustom (which revived memories of the controversial Nanavati murder case). In Special 26, he played the brains behind the heist, in Airlift, his character was inspired by Mathunny Mathews, who played a significant role in the Kuwait evacuation and in Rustom, he played the Parsi naval officer accused of killing his wife’s lover. All three turned out to be box-office grossers with Airlift and Rustom entering the coveted Rs 100 crore club.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh explains, “When you have four releases a year you can’t be doing the same stuff again and again. Akshay balances his roles — he did a Housefull 3 with Airlift and Rustom at the same time. If you have a real character and you present it in a commercial format, it’s great. Akshay’s movies based on real incidents or characters have worked for him in the past because the common man could relate to the story as well as the format. They were presented in a commercial packaging.”

Agrees Amul Vikas Mohan, Editor, Super Cinema, “He always likes to do films that are different and he probably made a conscious decision before Special 26 to take on films which can show him in a different light and most of them have paid off really well for him. And with the kind of response he’s getting, I think it gives him more confidence to attempt more such films in a similar genre.”

While one may assume that by doing such movies Akshay has probably hit the bullseye, noted film critic Anupama Chopra opines, “I don’t think there’s any formula that if you do movies based on real-life people, it will work or that Akshay is especially good in movies based on real people. I just think that he’s selecting good stories and he’s delivering very strong performances. That’s what is making them work. As far as his upcoming reality-based films are concerned, from the little I know about the characters that he’s playing, these are obviously fascinating men and I would love to get to know them better.”

Akshay has already started shooting for Padman about a man credited for inventing low-cost sanitary napkins for women in the rural parts of the country. Next up, would be Gold, which will chronicle the story of ex-hockey captain Balbir Singh, who was also a member of three Olympic gold-winning teams from 1948-1956 and holds an unbeaten record for the maximum number of goals scored by an individual in an Olympics men’s hockey finals.

What’s interesting is that these movies are about people from different strata. While one is about a social entrepreneur, another has him playing sportsman, and the latest one is steeped in music. The actor now has as many as six movies of the genre to his credit. What remains to be seen is, if he will take a break from biopics now or find another real-life personality to bring on the celluloid.