Akshay Kumar has a problem with dissecting of films on the basis of moral grounds. His latest release Good Newwz, which is about a sperm swapping accident at the hospital, has received mixed response from critics. While most critics have praised the film by calling it "a complete entertainer," some have criticised it for perpetuating negative stereotypes about adoption and abortion.
Scenes wherein Kiara Advani tells Kareena Kapoor Khan, "Apna khoon toh aakhir apna khoon hota hai" and Tisca Chopra explains Kareena how "being pregnant is a blessing for any woman" reflect a deeply conservative and regressive worldview.
However, Akshay has a completely different point of view. He tells us, "It's just a character talking. It is not Kiara in real life talking. And Tisca's character was trying to tell Kareena's character to 'first try have you own child and if you don't succeed then go for adoption.' For god's sake, when you look at a film, look at it as a character. Stop removing mistakes out of it."
Citing his own character of Varun Batra, who has had a hard time accepting the child in view of the parenthood of the sperm, Akshay elaborates on the debate, "When the doctor tells Deepti (Kareena) in the film that she will have to stop working if she and Varun go for IVF, my character immediately asks the doctor, 'But I can continue working, right?' So, I'm such a self-centred person in this movie. But it doesn't mean that I'm teaching that men have to be like this. It's just a character. I admire those critics who do all this but I'd request them to watch a film as a film. Stop dissecting it unnecessarily."
Meanwhile, the movie has been doing quite well at the box office. It opened to Rs 17.56 crore on Friday, i.e December 27, and went on to collect Rs 21.78 crore on Saturday. Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh said that that the movie has earned Rs 65.99 crore in its first weekend.
Talking about the same, Akshay says, "I always knew that the seed was right. I never knew that it would turn out to be so good. But I knew that it was something different. I've previously done a film on wife swapping and this was based on sperm swapping, so I think the swapping part works (laughs)."
Akshay's career has been on a high note following the release of Airlift in 2016. Since then, the actor has given 10 back-to-back hits, including Rustom, Housefull 3, Jolly LLB 2, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Pad Man, Gold, Kesari and Mission Mangal.
Ask if he's mastered the art of selecting the right scripts over the years, the actor says, "Nobody can do that because things are changing so quickly. You have to keep up the pace otherwise people will overtake you. All you have to do is just pray that you keep on surviving. I always say that I don't believe in rankings but I do believe that I should survive in this industry. It's been 30 years that I have survived and I just want to survive more and more till they shoot me down."
The actor further emphasises on the importance of critical as well as commercial success of films for him.
"A well-balanced film for me was Toilet: EK Prem Katha, which was critically as well commercially successful. Pad Man was a little less in terms of its box office collection but it received amazing response from the critics. So, the balance of both matters to me a lot," says Akshay.
Read: Good Newwz Movie Review: Akshay Kumar Film is a Bumpy Ride But There's Lot to Laugh About
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