Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar to host a reality show based on the hit American show Top Chef

After hosting Khatron Ke Khiladi, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is ready to return back to his first love through a new television show. The chefturned-actor will host his next reality show, which is on the lines of the American competition show Top Chef.

A source reveals, “Akshay was the face of Khatron Ke Khiladi. But then, suddenly one heard that Priyanka Chopra will be hosting the third season of Khatron Ke Khiladi. In fact, there were rumours that Akshay had suggested her name. After Priyanka replaced him in the third season of the adventure reality show, Akshay had announced that he would be back on television and that he was considering several ideas. Buzz was that the actor was keen to turn producer with his next TV show.”

“The Bollywood actor has finalised on the idea of hosting Top Chef. Talks are on with a production house and things are slowly but surely getting finalised. Akshay is currently working out the show details including the changes they need to make in the show format so that the new version suits Indian sensibilities,” adds the source.

Bollywood actor Akshay immediately agreed to host this show as it’s a fresh format quite unlike the various dance and music reality shows on television. Contrary to the tough image he is associated with, Akshay will project a far more interactive and friendly image in the new show. According to the show format, there will be a panel of judges, which might include some actors and also professional chefs, and participants from all across the country.

Akshay is currently shooting for Anees Bazmee’s Thank You in Canada. “The show should start by August first week by when Akshay is expected to work out his dates,” adds the source.

The channel neither confirmed nor denied the news. Akshay Kumar was unavailable for comment.

ABOUT THE SHOW

Top Chef is an American reality competition show, which started in 2006. The show has chefs competing against each other after which they are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notable people from the food and wine industry. The American version is currently in its seventh season with hosts Katie Lee Joel and Padma Lakshmi. So far there have been 61 guest judges on the show. Of these, 20 have won the Food and Wine Best New Chef Award.

Bollywood’s Five Musketeers

Bollywood’s 5-year report card brings to light that its five musketeers — Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan — have netted a business of approximately Rs 1,830 crore from the ticket windows alone. And, if you add the revenue from satellite, home-video and other mediums to this figure, you can easily see why these men are on top. Year 2009 didn’t start auspiciously for the superstar brigade — Shah Rukh had a lukewarm Billu while Akshay had two duds (Chandni Chowk to China and 8 x 10 Tasveer) and one uncertified Kambakht Ishq — but Bollywood continues to rely heavily on these stars.

It’s easy to explain here. Trade sources estimate a total of Rs 500 crore came from Akshay’s 17 releases in the five year-period from 2004 to 2008, Rs 400 crore from Shah Rukh’s nine releases, Rs 365 crore from Aamir’s five releases, Rs 350 crore from from Salman Khan’s 13 releases and Rs 215 crore from Hrithik Roshan’s three films.

Trade analyst Komal Nahata said: “Despite these actors’ ups and downs, Bollywood depends a lot on these five men because they have a fairly high success ratio. You have to go by aggregates; individual films may run or flop but these men net good averages. Akshay leads the pack with his earnings by virtue of the fact that he has done the maximum number of films.’’

This year, too, he has already had three releases; Shah Rukh has had only one release and Aamir is yet to open his account. Hrithik was seen in a cameo in Luck By Chance. However, when it comes to rating the five men, Nahata says: “Aamir and Shah Rukh are neck to neck at number 1 and Hrithik Roshan and Akshay Kumar are neck to neck at number 2. Salman currently occupies a solo place at number three because he hasn’t had a spectacular release after Partner.’’

Trade consultant Amod Mehra, however, disagrees: “Aamir is a clear number 1 because each of his films in the past five years has been different.’’ Mehra pointed out Mangal Panday was the only dud in Aamir’s bouquet of five; all the other four — Rang De Basanti, Fanaa, Taare Zameen Par and Ghajini — made a killing at the box office.

“Shah Rukh is a close second, Hrithik is third, Akshay is fourth and Salman stands at the fifth position. However, a hit or two here and there and these positions could easily change,’’ he added.

Ashok Ahuja of Percept Picture Company feels Shah Rukh and Aamir are tied at number 1. “It was hard to choose between Ghajini and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Both films rocked. Hrithik is number 2, Akshay is number 3 and Salman is number 4. The kind of excitement generated by Three Idiots, My Name Is Khan and Kites is palpable even though their release dates are yet to be set; the euphoria associated with Aamir, Shah Rukh and Hrithik is very high,’’ he said.

Prabhat Choudhury of Spice says these five men, apart from films, have also taken over the endorsement world because each of these is a very big brand in himself. “Aamir leads the pack because he brings to the table qualities of a discerning thinking actor, who is very sincere and sensitive whereas Shah Rukh’s strong point is that he is entertaining and very charming,’’ Choudhury said.

FAILED

Akshay Kumar’s CC2C has broken his winning streak. The weekend saw a good opening in the city but since Monday the movie has failed to generate the response an Akshay Kumar movie generally does.

After a great end to 2008 with movies like Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Ghajini, all eyes were set on the Akshay Kumar’s Chandni Chowk to China (CC2C) — the big release of 2009. But Chandni Chowk to China is arguably the worst Bollywood movie we have seen in a few years. It’s just four days old and it is already being touted as a combination of Drona 2, Love Story 2050 and Tashan.

But to go back to the beginning: Apparently, Akshay had liked a poster director Nikhil Advani made which showed Akshay standing with two swords crossed. (See pic) Akshay looked at the poster and asked, ‘What’s the script?’ to which Nikhil replied that he didn't have any. Logical as ever Akshay queried, ‘What’s the idea?’ Nikhil replied that he didn’t have an idea either. All he had was the poster. To which Akshay is said to have laughed and congratulated Nikhil on “this new way of working.” He is supposed to have added, “I really like the poster, it's great, and I'm going to work in your film.”

Despite his obvious glee at working on a film that didn’t have a script we hear that Akshay Kumar made Nikhil reshoot a large portion of the film. But alas! Nothing worked and now many people have been leaving the theatres in less than an hour, too traumatised to talk. Worse, theatres across the country are reducing the number of shows.

According to Sathish, General Manager, PVR Cinemas, “The weekend saw a good opening as the audience had already booked the tickets. But since Monday morning, we are seeing a fall out. It is because of the negative publicity by the media.”

Fun Cinemas saw a collection of Rs 17 lakhs in three days but according to the officials, “People are not as crazy as they were for Ghajini.” Even Mohit Bhargava, Regional General Manager, INOX says, “The weekend so a good response but since Monday the movie has not attracted many as normally an Akshay Kumar movie generates. But I would still stay the response is not bad.”

Trade expert Amod Mehra too trashed the film, “CC2C is a disaster. The film has no script, no action and no China. Distributors are crying and they are bound to lose copious amounts of money.”

Sridhar Raghvan the writer of CC2C admitted that he was getting mixed and negative feedback on the film. But he added, “I wouldn’t like to react to it now. I will talk after a few days. (Maybe he’s hoping for a miracle).”

The worst part is that CC2C has a U certificate which means that a lot of kids who are Akshay Kumar fans, and yes, he still has plenty, will see this film which has far too much of toilet humour. Amod endorsed, “It's a very obnoxious film. The villain beats up Akshay, spits on him, unzips his pants and urinates on him. Now this is not just toilet humour but toilet itself.”
While most Akshay movies of late have not exactly been hailed by the critics, they have still managed to rake in the moolah. This, in turn, led Akshay to call the shots and demand a huge fee from the producer. But now that Chandni Chowk to China and even Jumbo have bit the dust, not to forget that Singh is Kinng was not a hit (Ask the distributors off the record), does Akshay need to reassess his standing in the industry?

“Definitely,” said Amod. “If Akshay does films like this crap, his career will be over faster than he thinks. If a big star like Akshay can generate only 50-55 per cent on the opening day of his film, he doesn’t deserve the money he is getting.”

We hate to be the ones to say this, but we have to: Akshay Kumar has become overconfident and this reflects not only in the quality of the films he acts in but also the statements he makes so cockily. Give us another Khiladi or Hera Pheri and we will flock to the cinemas again. Or else…

Akshay Kumar is more than just King!

Now, that we’ve brought up the much buried Akki-Shilpa connection, we might as well update you on some udhti khabar that has been doing the rounds. Buzz is that Akshay Kumar will replace Shilpa Shetty as the host of the reality show she was handling so far. And there’s more. Akki will be paid twice the amount Shilpa got for it. So in these times of recession, Akshay is raking in his moolah, and enjoying his big share of the pie. He’s not just the King, but also the Big Boss, eh?

It’s raining crores for Akki

Even after Akshay Kumar stalled the shoot of Tasveer due to differences with director Nagesh Kukunoor he was paid a hefty amount to resume shooting for the film.

Akshay Kumar is on a roll. If you wonder how much he is paid for a project, here is the stats. He was paid Rs 9 crore for dubbing Jumbo, produced by Percept Picture Company. Akshay will also be entitled to 50 per cent of the film’s profit.

If sources are to be believed, Akshay struck the ‘jumbo’ deal of Rs 9 crore plus 50 per cent partnership in profits only after he agreed to complete their unfinished film Tasveer (earlier titled 8 X 10). The film had come to a halt last year after there were serious differences between Akshay and director Nagesh Kukunoor.

Percept Picture Company was only too happy to know that Akshay was ready to complete the film. Moreover, going by the back-to-back hits, which Akshay has had in the last one year, Percept felt that they should give him a good deal for Jumbo. Our source said, “They (Percept) feel that Akshay deserves a high amount. He is not only a good actor with a good voice but also a crowd puller.”

Interestingly, Akshay was paid approximately Rs 60 lakh per day for the extra days that he shot for Tasveer.

Navin Shah CEO, PPC said, “We are very happy with the outcome of Tasveer. Our relationship with Akhsay is not about money alone, it is a long term partnership.”

However, we hear that even though Akshay completed Tasveer he hasn’t yet patched up with Nagesh. It may be recalled that Akshay had earlier stalled the film and refused to shoot any further when he was made to wait endlessly during the first schedule of the film in Canada. Only after strong persuasion from Percept Picture Company had he agreed to face the camera for Tasveer again.

So what is Akshay’s problem with Nagesh this time? Our source said, “Akshay’s problem with Nagesh is still the same. Earlier too, the actor wasn’t too happy with the way Nagesh’s assistant Elahe was behaving on the sets of Tasveer. He felt that Elahe was too domineering. At one point of time, Akshay demanded to know whether it was Nagesh or Elahe who was directing Tasveer.” When contacted, Elahe told Mumbai Mirror, “I don’t know if Akshay had any problems with me. He didn’t tell me about it.”

Apparently, Nagesh and Elahe are more than just good friends. Onlookers say that they are more than just work partners and she’s the one who calls the shots on the sets. Last year on October 19, we were the first to tell you that there is more to the Nagesh-Elahe relationship than just a professional association. We had also reported about Elahe’s interference while they were shooting for Tasveer.

An insider from Percept Picture Company did not deny the story, but simply said, “Elahe’s contribution and involvement in the film can be read very subjectively. While Nagesh is the creative brain, Elahe is responsible for dealing with the actors. This often makes her the villain. But that’s okay. All’s well that ends well. Much to the relief of Percept, Tasveer is now complete.”

Akshay’s the new king of Bollywood

Akshay Kumar is unstoppable. Now, that his latest venture Singh Is Kinng has been declared a hit, the new Punjabi ‘King’ has moved much closer to the No 1 position and his market price has soared manifold. “Now he will be charging more than Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir. And like them, he too takes a territory as part of his remuneration,” says a trade pundit. So Bollywood ka naya king kaun? No prizes for guessing!