Akshay under fire!

Theatre owner calls him out for ‘bad’ films and promo tactics

Film producer and theatre owner Manoj Desai, who had lashed out at Vijay Deverakonda for his Kaun rokega hum dekhenge comment during the boycott call against Liger, has now taken on Akshay Kumar for signing ‘bad’ films. Desai has also criticised the star for his promotional tactics.

Desai runs the G7 Multiplex which has seven single screens. “People have been blasting me at the theatre for showing Selfiee, telling me how better the Jab We Met collections are even today,” he says. (The weekend collection of Akshay’s recent film Selfiee collected less that what the rerun of the 15-year-old Kareena KapoorShahid Kapoor film Jab We Met made.)

“It is rather strange that actors like Akshay prefer to promote their films on a Kapil Sharma show on TV. Kapil and the channel are making money and these people think they are promoting their movie. Akshay has been seen time and again on that show produced by Salman Khan and his films are not making money. I don’t know when they will understand,” Desai raged. Earlier, after his tirade against Deverakonda, the theatre owner had said, “I spoke to Vijay and explained why I had said that and was sorry if I had hurt him. But then we spend so much money to give people the big screen experience. We spend on the theatre, the screen, the sound and everything which you will never get on a mobile phone.” The filmmaker adds, “I have been having such conversations with many people, like Aamir, Akshay Kumar, Kareena and Alia. I even asked Akshay why he wanted an OTT release for his film Cuttputtili. You cannot ignore the big screen or take theatre audiences lightly.” Manoj had even blasted the makers of Thugs of Hindostan for “wasting” actors like Aamir and Bachchan.

PEOPLE HAVE BEEN BLASTING ME AT THE THEATRE FOR SHOWING SELFIEE, TELLING ME HOW BETTER THE JAB WE MET COLLECTIONS ARE EVEN TODAY. IT IS STRANGE THAT AKSHAY PREFER TO PROMOTE THEIR FILMS ON KAPIL SHARMA SHOW