Akshay Kumar : I don’t go to Vaishno Devi anymore

Akshay Kumar

Despite being a declared paidaishi Vaishno Devi bhakt, Akshay isn't headed there in the Navratras. Here's why

At one point of time, you were the most famous regular visitor to Vaishno Devi. I've seen your photos in earlier years with the guys running many small shops on the trek route, though not recently. Kitni purani association hai Vaishno Devi shrine se?

Bachpan se hai. Paidaishi. My parents took me there when I was a few months old.

When did you first go on your own?

I must have been about 14.

How frequently do you go now?

Nahi, ab main nahi jaata. Vaishno Devi main bohot maanta hoon lekin ab wahan jaata nahi. It's like this. Kai saal main gaya, wahan bhi, koi bhi mandir. Now when I travel, there's a fair amount of expense. Business class tickets, hotel rooms, bodyguards, all that. Do-dhai-teen laakh rupaiye kharcha ho jaata hai ek baar mein. Ab main kya karta hoon ki agar mujhe mann hua Vaishno Devi jaane ka - soch leta hoon dimaag mein ki jaana hai. Phir dhai lakh nikalta hoon. Tata Memorial Cancer ya yahaan-wahaan ja ke kisi ko bhi de deta hoon. Vaishno Devi ke darshan ho jaate hain. Kahin jaane ki zaroorat hi nahi hai. Woh mere ghar mein hi hain. Yeh baat meri der mein samajh aayi ki mandir ka matlab hai man andar. Mata ki itni meher hai mere pe, lekin unhonein hi mujhe yeh raasta dikhaya hai. Aisa nahi hai that I won't go at all - Jammu shooting hogi toh zaroor jaoonga, nazdeek hi hoon. Koi bolega uss pe film bana rahe hain aur main kaam karoon, zaroor karoonga.

So you've moved to a philosophy of moving away from the formalities of religion?

If I give the money to someone, and he says, mera bhala ho jayega bhai, main tere liye Bhagwan se dua karoonga - isn't that better than me spending it on going? Mere saath toh jo hua hai, wahan pe, I can never disassociate with Vaishno Devi. It's a long story.

Let's hear it.

My mom and dad, they are both believers in the deity. Before I was born, they had made a mannat, ki beta de de, darshan karne aayenge. Typical Punjabi family and all that... Beta aa gaya. I must have been eight-nine months old when they took me for the darshan. This is when... I'm talking about 1968. By the time they reached Katra, I was running fever. There was no proper medical infrastructure there in those days. The doctor there said he is running 102 degrees, take him back to Delhi, show him at a proper hospital. My dad agreed to return. But my mother was adamant - 'Mata ne diya hai, Mata le le'! Dad agreed. On the way the temperature kept on rising. By the time they reached the shrine, I had 104 and was not responding. Mother refused to turn back. She even bathed me in the Banganga. Then she took me inside, darshan kiye.

When she came out of the shrine, still crying, someone said to her, behenji, aapka beta bada khubsoorat lag raha hai, hans raha hai. She was astounded. I was laughing. They checked my temperature - it was back to normal. Hanste-khelte wapas ghar aaye wahaan se. Bas yeh kahani hai. I don't know what is the science or logic behind this. Kuch nahi pata. How does temperature go from 104 to normal instantly? There is no logic. And this happened not to someone I know, or heard about, but to me. Aise aur bhi kisse hote rahe hain mere saath.

Film industry mein mujhe break aise hi mila thaa. I missed a flight. I had to take a 6am flight and I thought it was a 6pm one. I got such a firing on the phone, ki tum jaise unprofessional aadmi ko kabhi kaam nahi milega, and then they slammed down the phone. I cried a lot, modelling assignment chala gaya mere haath se. It was a very big thing for me then.

I was just crying and walking past Nataraj Studios, still carrying my pictures. I went inside. There was a make-up man, he saw I was holding my photos. He said, show me these photos. He said, achhi hain, andar dikha doon? He took them inside and showed them to Pramod Chakraborti. Unhone bulaya mujhe andar. He gave me a cheque for five thousand rupees and said, beta, main tumhare saath film banana chahta hoon.

Ittefaq ki baat hai. Agar main uss din flight pakad leta, toh Bangalore mein hota, modelling assignment kar raha hota. Chahe unprofessional kaho ya understand karo ki it was a misunderstanding - missing that flight meant that I got my first film. Film mil gayi, uss ke baad I never looked back.

Obviously, there is God, there is something, somewhere.

You're a clear believer in destiny, then?

Mujhe kitne log poochte hain, aap kitna hard work karte ho. And I say, hard work toh sab hi karte hain. In this industry, it is 70% luck and 30% hard work. Luck plays a very, very important role. Pata nahi kya ho jaata hai, kuch sahi baith jaata hai sometimes. Gandi se gandi film chal jaati hai kabhi, aur achhi se achhi film nahi chalti. Kisi ki samajh mein nahi aati ki yeh chali kaise (laughs)! Koi formula hi nahi hai. (Sources from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)

WATCH : Holiday Movie : Akshay Kumar's EXCLUSIVE Interview