JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
SWOT for Akshay Kumar: Identifying the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats for the Khiladi
Decoding Akshay Kumar. The analysis of his stardom, his probable shortfalls, the opportunity that looms in the market and the threats that can pull him down. Pinkvilla discusses
Over the years, SWOT analysis has been conventionally used to identify and analyze the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of an organization in the business world. It is among the most accepted principals, alongside PESTLE analysis, used in making a holistic business decision by the stakeholders. As a method, SWOT can be applied in all mediums of work, and in a first, we at Pinkvilla now bring this methodology to application for the top male and female stars of Bollywood. We take this segment forward with Akshay Kumar, and here’s decoding the factors that have worked in favour of, gone against as also, the opportunities waiting to be explored by bypassing the threats for the Khiladi.
Strength
Discipline
Every person in the industry will have a story to share about Akshay Kumar’s discipline and this one strength has led him to reach the peak. Even when he was down and out in the 90s, the producers were keen to have him on board, because Akshay Kumar has always strongly stood for “no wastage of money due to delay in call time and abrupt shoot cancellations and ”. Today’s youth look upto Akshay for his time management skills, and his ability to dabble so much in one go might be used as a case study in MBA schools in the future. It’s the discipline that has also played a role in motivating a large section of youth in India, translating into a loyal fan base and it’s the same discipline that ensures a constant flow of releases from the Khiladi and it’s the same discipline that has led to the phrase of him being the ambassador of “low risk, moderate cost and high return model”.
Versatility and Script Selection
Akshay’s journey is motivating to say the least. From being termed “wooden” by some of his critics in the 90s and early 2000s, to becoming the most versatile actors in today’s time – Akshay created his own path to be where he is today. His versality and script selection over the last 5 years has led him to the tag of being “Guaranty Kumar”, as the least that one can expect from AK is a “decent film”. From being an action hero to the king of comedies and finally, someone who can ace the dramatic and emotional space, there is very little that Akshay can’t do today. While action and comedy led to a loyal fan base in the masses, the social drama’s, thrillers, and experimental cinema resulted in his goodwill among the multiplexes. Though his biggest strength still is the mass following due action and comedy, it’s always good to have the backing from the high end audience, as that’s where a lot of money comes in from.
Weakness
Over speeding
While Akshay has been a constant in delivering back-to-back hits particularly in the later half of last decade, what stands in between hits and blockbuster for him is the aspect of “over speeding”. With as many as four films up for the public exhibition in a year, the audience is spoilt for choice and everyone picks up on one or two of the four films that they want to watch. His audience is split between the four films, which in a way curtails the theatrical potential of a film. That aside, Akshay is known to complete a film within a span ranging from 35 to 50 days, and this at times impacts the scale of the film, as it gets difficult to mount it when shooting needs to be completed at a fast pace. Probably, a film like Kesari could have been mounted better with a greater number of shooting days. And the better mounting would have led to better box-office collections, as retrospectively, an epic like Kesari ending up at just 150 crores, though a hit, could have done a lot better. Basically, in a nut shell, over speeding at times does result in quality of film being compromised. He can certainly slot his shoot days based on the scale that the script demands. He can continue with his pace, but just plan better based on merits.
Opportunities
Better planning with bigger projects
Staying relevant for almost 30 years is a task and Akshay is among the rare actors in Bollywood who has passed this test with flying colours. While his script sense is commendable, one must realise that the 50 plus actors have just few more years left to do the “commercial brand of cinema” particularly “action” and “comedy” as after a certain age, the antiques might not suit the personality. Akshay is presently in one of his best phases of his career, and the market is open for him to do action thrillers and comedies. The social dramas can wait for three four years; that’s the demand from the fans, to see him in sleek action film and an out and out comedy, as that’s the genre that everyone associates Akshay with. While he can continue with his rather smaller and sweet films, one can expect him to plan his slate in a way that a big project is followed by a smaller one, followed by another big film and finally a small film. This would give him the chance to be versatile and at the same time, fulfil the dream of his fans by doing action thrillers and comedies. And well, there is also a section of fandom that wants him to do a romantic comedy on the lines of “Namaste London”. And that’s not a bad idea indeed.. How about a mature love story AK, that’s a zone you haven’t explore in a long time? Inshallah ;)
Threat
Over exposure
Over exposure is always a threat for anyone. When you get something easily, why would you value it? Though Akshay hasn’t faced the brunt of “over exposure” till date, there lies a possibility of audiences picking up and choosing the project that looks the best, giving the rest the miss, and rather watch it at comfort at home on OTT. Akshay has nothing left to prove right now, and he can probably make an attempt to strategize in the years to come with two to three release a year, rather than the four-release plan. Multiple films also curtail his releases from being “an event” for the audience, as is the case with some stars, who have a film or two up for release. In today’s time, four is over exposure, three is preferred, two is ideal, the least that one can expect is one film a year. But for Akshay, who has branded himself as mini-industry, one can expect him to dabble between the “preferred (3 films) and ideal (2 films)” option mentioned above.
Latest Articles
