Says Akshaye Khanna in a free-wheeling chat.

He comes across as a recluse. A hermit from the Himalayas; you can almost see a crescent-like halo looming over him. But like still waters that run deep, beneath those silent sighs lies a ticking mind that thinks at the speed of lightening, yet when it translates into verbal quotes, the replies are almost sagely in their calm.

"Our audiences are very forgiving and patient. Even if you're bad in your first few films and gradually improve, they give you another chance. I got accepted by the audience that way."

There's a sudden flood of newcomers in the industry, and a whole bunch of a new kind of films. "Yes, if they have the talent, there's so much of scope." responds the star.

With the sudden spate of 'different' cinema hitting the screens (two-hour, songless films) ranging over a variety of subjects -- from cricket and sex, to gangsters -- the heated debate is whether the rules of Bollywood are finally changing. He strongly differs, "I think commercial Hindi cinema, will always remain what it is. It's a unique format of cinema. Why should we want to change it?"

So what happens to parallel cinema and offbeat themes? "In a country with such a huge population, there are different audiences for different films. So all the filmmakers should make the kind of films they want to -- irrespective of what genre it belongs to. Of course there are masses waiting for the dose of the usual Bollywood flicks. Let's improve ourselves; let's improvise within the format. To change what Hindi cinema is all about is a horrible idea," he asserts.

Exactly! Our masses out there are waiting to watch more drama, action, emotion from the Khanna family. We mean the Vinod-Akshaye combo. He's quick to react, "Films are made to entertain people; they're not made because two people are dying to work with each other."

source:timesofindia