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Akshay Kumar has had an extremely successful innings in Bollywood.
However, did you know that the actor went through his share of hiccups before he made it big? Here is some unknown trivia on the Khiladi Kumar…
Started as a lightman
Before debuting as a model and actor, Akshay Kumar used to work as a lightman. In an old video that recently surfaced on social media, Akshay can be heard saying, “Before becoming an actor I worked as a light man with a photographer. I had clicked a lot of pictures of actors as a light boy, I had clicked Govinda sahab’s photo also. I still remember how when he was seeing his picture (that I had clicked) and he happened to look at me and told me ‘beta tu hero kyun nahi ban jaataa, hero lagta hai tu (son, why don’t you become a hero, you look like a hero)’ and I was like ‘kyun mazaak kar rahe ho (why are you joking)”. As luck would have it, Akki went on to become a huge star and even starred with Govinda in Bhagam Bhag (2006).
Trained in Martial Arts
The actor, who usually performs his own stunts, is trained in Taekwondo, Karate and Muay Thai. In fact, he even hosted a mini series called Seven Deadly Arts with Akshay Kumar that aired on the National Geographic Channel in 2004.
Worked as a chef and waiter
To make ends meet, the actor also tried his hands at working as a chef and waiter, when he was training in Martial Arts in Bangkok, Thailand.
Real name – Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia
It is common knowledge that Akshay’s real name is Rajiv Bhatia. However, few know that his full name is in fact, Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia. He was born in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk and spent his formative years there before the family moved to Mumbai.
Naturalised Canadian citizen
It is an open secret that the actor took up Canadian citizenship as a back up in the 1990s, when his movies were not doing well and he had delivered 15 flops! A friend, who was based out of Canada, asked him to apply and he got in. However, earlier this year, the actor announced that he will soon renounce his Canadian citizenship as India means ‘everything’ to him.