New Delhi: Filmmaker Priyadarshan has clarified his earlier comments comparing actors Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar.
In a recent interview with Filmfare magazine, Priyadarshan was asked about his earlier statement that Kumar could blend into the role of a common man, while Khan’s aura and polish made it difficult for him to do the same.
“Shah Rukh himself has told me, ‘Never cast me as a villager.’ Because my body language is more polished. I grew up like that,” Priyadarshan said.
“He also told me that, ‘I always lived in urban areas and I have observed people from those areas. I really don’t know how a Punjabi farmer’s body language is, how he walks.’ So, he himself told me. It is not my opinion about him,” he added.
In an interview published in April, Priyadarshan’s comments were reported as his assessment of the two actors’ screen presence.
Priyadarshan had said that Kumar’s ability to look like a common man was one of his strengths. He cited their 2010 film Khatta Meetha, in which Kumar played a struggling road contractor.
“The plus point of Akshay is that he can look like a common man. His body language, the way he walks, especially when I did Khatta Meetha, I really thought that he looked like a road contractor who is struggling,” the director had said.
Priyadarshan and Khan worked together on the 2009 film Billu, which also starred Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta. Khan played a film star in the comedy-drama, while Irrfan played a village barber believed to be his childhood friend.
Priyadarshan has directed Kumar in several films, including Hera Pheri (2000), Garam Masala (2005), Bhagam Bhag (2006), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), and De Dana Dan (2009). Their latest collaboration is the thriller Haiwaan (2026), which also stars Saif Ali Khan.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)