Mumbai: Filmmaker Karan Johar said Monday that actor Akshay Kumar is one of the rare stars who chooses content over the scale of a project or director.
After working on action dramas such as Brothers and Kesari, filmmaker Karan Johar is once again collaborating with Akshay Kumar – this time on the light-hearted Good Newwz.
The producer said he originally planned to make a big-budget feature with the actor but Akshay decided on the upcoming comedy.
“I have loved Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films and I always wanted to make such movies but Dharma (his production house) has never made a film like that. I went with a big film to Akshay Kumar because he is a mega movie star,” Karan told reporters here.
“Akshay’s uniqueness is that he searches for content. He never looks for scale or opulence or who is the director. He is one superstar who has always supported first-time directors and that’s rare for a movie star,” Karan added.
The filmmaker was speaking at the trailer launch of Good Newwz, directed by debutant Raj Mehta. The film also features Kareena Kapoor Khan, Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani.
Karan said Good Newwz marks Akshay’s 23rd film with a budding director. He claimed that Akshay is ‘the only movie star who has worked with so many debut directors’.
Akshay recalled getting a narration from Karan regarding the other ‘big’ film and said he found himself gravitating towards the slice-of-life story.
“I asked Karan what else he was making. He told me he was making a small film called Good Newwz. I asked him to narrate its story to me. After listening to the story, I told him, “Let’s drop the other one and do Good Newwz,” the actor added.
The film is scheduled to be released December 27.
PNN & Agencies