Akshay Kumar deliberately moved out of action

Akshay Kumar chose to return to the action film genre only because of the audience demand.

Mumbai: After a gap of almost seven years, actor Akshay Kumar, who is back in action with his soon-to-be released `Rowdy Rathore`, says he deliberately left doing such movies and chose to return to the genre only because of the audience demand.

Even when he was not in action, Akshay was receiving offers, but he stayed away as the audience had started liking his comic avatar. "I had got many offers in between...But I deliberately left it. It took seven years for me to come back to action because I wanted to take break from that. I did action films for say about 14-15 years. I know it was a big break. It is not because of any film that attracted me that I am doing action again. It has nothing to do with the trend as well," Akshay said in an interview. "Audience like comedy films so I did that. We are like products whatever audience like we get that for them. Audience like when Shahrukh is romancing so he is doing it. Now they want to see action, so I am doing this," he said. Back in 1990s, Akshay Kumar began his acting career with action films like `Khiladi`, `Waqt Humara Hai`, `Mohra`, `Suhaag`, `Elaan` and `Khiladiyo Ka Khiladi`. He took a break to star in romantic, comedy and drama movies and gave hits like `Dil Toh Pagal Hai`, `Dhadkan`, `Hera Pheri`, `Mujhse Shaadi Karogi`, `Garam Masala`, `Hey Babyy`, `Welcome`, `Sing is Kinng`, `Housefull`, `Ek Rishta`, and `Waqt` respectively. "I think just because you have done a dozen of comedy films does not mean you know comedy. Comedy, action, horror, suspense, drama are all different genres in which the more you get into it, the more you will discover. There are various branches in every genre," Akshay said. Action has changed so much in Bollywood. I just try learning new things all the time," he said. "I think no better launch for me than `Rowdy Rathore`. It is a raw action film directed by one of the best action directors, Prabhu Deva. The action in this film is different. It is raw action, which I have never did. I have always done martial arts and more technicality of action. But this is a street fight," he said. When the promos of `Rowdy Rathore` were out, similarities were drawn with Salman Khan starrer `Dabangg`. "When our film is compared to a super hit film then its a good thing. It is good that the film is not compared with a flop one," Akshay said. Releasing on June 1, `Rowdy Rathore` produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and directed by Prabhudeva also stars Sonakshi Sinha in the lead. PTI