Akshay Kumar in Aap Ki Adalat: 'What's wrong in asking our Prime Minister how he eats mangoes?'

Superstar Akshay Kumar was in his element when he appeared in India TV Editor and Chairman Rajat Sharma's iconic TV show 'Aap Ki Adalat'. He spoke in detail about his 2019 interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, declared Katrina Kaif as his favourite heroine, and replied to complaints by lawyers about his latest movie, Jolly LLB 3, and his pranks with co-stars. 

Asked by Rajat Sharma why he asked the Prime Minister whether he ate or sucked mangoes, the superstar replied, "Yes, I asked him. I had gone there as a very simple person to know what common people want to know about our Prime Minister. I don't want to know from the Prime Minister his views on which bills are going to be passed. I was not interested in his political side. He was wearing his wristwatch reverse side, and I asked him why he wore his watch like that. Then I asked him about his salary and whether he gives part of his salary to his mom. I asked a normal question: do you eat mangoes? I asked like a normal person. What is wrong about it? He answered it, and it was great of him to answer me the way he wanted to."

Question from the audience: "Did you steal the PM's watch?"

Akshay Kumar: "Mujhe desh se baahar nikalna hai?" (You want me to leave the country?)

Stealing watches

When Rajat Sharma told him that his pranks were not limited to movies only. Sara Ali Khan once said that you offered her garlic, saying it was a prasad?

Akshay Kumar: "Hua hoga. Dekhiye, mazaak karna achhi baat hai. Somebody asked me how I keep myself fit and young, and laughing is the best medicine. The pranks should be such that they must not cause any loss or pain to anybody's heart. Agar lehsun (garlic) khilaya toh uski sehat ke liye bhi acchi baat hai. Aur phir baad mein usey mere saath scene karna tha. Agar munh se lehsun ki khushboo ya badboo aaye toh mere ko hi aayegi."

Rajat Sharma: Amitabh Bachchan once said if you shake hands with Akshay, you must count your rings and your watch. 

Akshay Kumar: Haan, maine Amitabh Sahab ki ghadi nikaal li thi. Yes, I know how to steal watches without them knowing. I had learnt this trick. If I have to touch your pulse, I can steal yours and anybody's watch. But in personal life, I never kept the stolen watch with me; I returned it.

Rajat Sharma: Did you try to steal your wife's watch?

Akshay Kumar: Main agar woh koshish karoonga toh woh meri zindagi nikaal legi. (If I try to do that, she will take away my life.)

On wife Twinkle

When Rajat Sharma said he doesn't even spare his wife and that she doesn't go to the sets because 11 out of her 12 movies flopped, Akshay Kumar replied, "Ji, bilkul." She herself told me she did 12 movies and only one clicked. Unko actually writer banna tha. She wanted to be a chartered accountant. She was a very intelligent child. She had no 'showk' (hobby) about movies, but the situation so happened that she entered the industry. When she was doing the movie 'Mela' with Aamir Khan, we were having an affair with each other; we were going around. I told her, 'Let's get married,' but she said, 'If this 'Mela' movie doesn't click, I will marry.' She said 'Mela', starring Aamir Khan saheb and directed by Dharmesh Darshan, would definitely become a hit. It was luck for me that, sorry Aamir Khan Saheb, aapki film nahin chali, lekin meri shaadi aapki wajah se ho gayi.

Rajat Sharma: Is it true the wedding was done in a hush-hush manner?

Akshay Kumar: Nahin, nahin, chhup kar nahin ki. 

Rajat Sharma: Nobody knew about it.

Akshay Kumar: No, we didn't invite anybody, nor did I tell anybody. I was shooting at that time. By 6 pm, she also returned from her shooting, and we married on a friend's terrace.

Rajat Sharma: Aamir Khan says, when your wife rang him up and asked him to come quickly to the wedding, he felt as if he was having a dream?

Akshay Kumar: Kyon nahin ho sakti hai. Shaadiyan, affair jo hote hain, woh jaldi hi hote hain. Usko bolte hain, chat mangni, pat byaah.

Rajat Sharma: I've also heard that you have a code language when your wife speaks out of line or speaks too much?

Akshay Kumar: Yes, it is 'Chashma Pehen Lo'. Sometimes when my wife speaks, it seems there is no filter. Once after our wedding, I took her to the trial show of a movie. The producer came to her and asked, 'Bhabhi Ji, kaisi lagi aapko?' She said, "It's shit." I was looking elsewhere. I told her that now this producer will never take me for his films. I explained to her, 'Why can't you be diplomatic?' She said, 'No, I am like this; I will say black is black, and white is white.' She later told me, 'If I ever speak too much, just bol dena, Twinkle, chashma pehen lo.'

His favourite heroine

On a question about who he considered his favourite heroine, Akshay Kumar replied, "I've actually worked with almost all heroines, but my favourite heroine is Katrina."

Rajat Sharma: I heard most of the heroines do not want to work with you because they'd have to wake up early at 5?

Akshay Kumar: You have heard the wrong thing. It is completely reversed. Ask any heroine; they are so happy to work with me. When I did the movie Good Newwz, Kareena told her husband Saif, 'Yaar, yeh mazaa aata hai. The first shot is taken at 8 in the morning, and by 11.30 or 12.30, the pack-up takes place. I return home, and I can be with my children. What can be better than this? Now, what are the benefits? The early morning traffic is thin, you reach your shoots early, and by afternoon at 2, when there is a pack-up, you have thin traffic. So, you get the whole day free; you can be with your family and friends and do whatever you want.

Rajat Sharma: If heroines want to work with you, why do you have new heroines in almost every film?

Akshay Kumar: You look this way. I always take new directors. I am very proud; why not? Because I find them so greedy for work. I take new directors. I am very proud that I have worked with 26 new directors; I have got in this industry. Why should I continue working with the old directors? Why not give the new ones a chance? Isn't it fair?

Rajat Sharma: Some say that during outstation shoots, you wake up and knock on everybody's doors at 5 in the morning?

Akshay Kumar: Nahin, nahin, main aisa kyun karoonga? Main koi production manager thodi hoon ki darwaaze khatkhatounga, chalo ready ho jao.

Rajat Sharma: Gulshan Grover once said in his interview that you wake up people early in the morning.

Akshay Kumar: Gulshan might have told somebody to wake him early. He must have thought this was a habit of mine to wake up everybody early. Ye galat baat hai. 

Jolly LLB 3

Asked why he made fun of the attire of lawyers and judges in his latest movie, Jolly LLB 3, Akshay Kumar replied, "I highly respect the judiciary. But what is depicted in the movie is what normally happens in some lower courts. Aisa hota hai. These are small matters, which our writer-director Subhash Kapoor has scripted.

Rajat Sharma: It was said, "Kabira is sansar mein sabse sukhi wakil, jit gaye toh moti fees, haar gaye toh appeal." Some lawyers have gone to court to challenge this and stop the film.

Akshay Kumar: Nahin, I would like to appeal to them with folded hands not to do this. At the end of the day, it's just a film; there's nothing serious about it. The issue in the movie relates to farmers. Watch the entire film. In Part One also, they complained and retracted. In Part Two also, a similar thing happened, and they retracted."