Opinion: How PadMan actor Akshay Kumar is climbing up the ladder of success with his smart choices

In an industry where every Friday, an actor's fate changes, sometimes they find it difficult to experiment with different genres, while still be considered as a bankable star. However, Akshay Kumar has once again proved that while his strategy of experimenting movies based on various genres is being applauded by the audience and the critics, he still remains as one of the most bankable stars in the Hindi film industry.

Over the past couple of years, the actor has been seen in varied avatars. From being an undercover agent in the action-spy thriller Baby (2015), or his role as a Kuwait-based businessman, who carries out the evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraq in Airlift (2016), our when he tickled our funny bones in the full-on masala flick, Housefull 3 (2016) and a gay man in action thriller Dishoom (2016).

Not just that, he took us inside a serious courtroom drama in not one but two of his movies, Rustom (2016) and Jolly LLB2 (2017), reprised his role of a RAW agent in Naam Shabana (2017) and talked about the issue of open defecation in India in Toilet - Ek Prem Katha (2017). While many may still criticise his acting skills, the majority of the media and audience have enjoyed how the Khiladi Kumar broke his image as an action hero, and has taken up several challenging roles and has been successful to bring in the audience to the theatres.

2018, too looks promising for the actor. PadMan marks his first movie for this year with again an unusual storyline which aims at destigmatizing menstruation which is considered a taboo in several parts of the country.  His next, the much-awaited sci-fi thriller 2.0 with superstar Rajinikanth, Gold - an emotional sports drama set in 1946, and a biopic on the late 'Cassette King' Gulshan Kumar, Mogul.

When you closely observe the choices of Akshay's films, one can easily figure how he has been smartly picking up topics that are quite relevant in today's time. There is no secret about how moviegoers have widened their interests and content viewing experience, all thanks to digitization. People now have so many content options that they can watch it anywhere on their hand-held devices. And it looks like Akshay has been closely following the change and doing his homework regularly.

Akshay is also using his stardom and huge fan following cleverly by keeping himself engaged and interacting with his fans on social media. Social media is also one tool that he is using effectively to market his work and reach maximum people online.

His films are either inspired or based on real-life events or connected to social issues that impact a large section of the audience, or he picks up stories of influential personalities who had a very dramatic personal and professional life. And as Akshay Kumar carries the status of being one of the bankable stars, producers and filmmakers are also open to experiment with various subjects. 

Over the past couple of years, all his films managed to cross the 100 crore mark and there cannot be a better example to explain how he has been climbing up the ladder of success with his smart thinking and exemplary business skills, making him a star who has stood strong amidst the lowest of phase and emerged successfully.