‘Toh kya hai?’: Akshay Kumar on romancing Wamiqa Gabbi in Bhooth Bangla despite their 26-year age-difference

Priyadarshan on age-gap between actors

Director Priyadarshan said the focus should be on how actors embody their characters rather than their real-life ages. “There’s something that people like MGR and NTR used to say… that there’s a big difference between chronological age and screen age. An actor’s screen age may not be his real age. but people accept you for your screen age too. I don’t see any issue there,” he saud.

He further added that what matters most is how the pair appears on screen, not their age difference.

“When I shoot, I may look at a pair and feel like it isn’t the right pair (and that may have nothing to do with their age gap). When I shoot with Akshay or Tabu, I never feel (an issue) looking at them. And once audiences watch the film, I notice that they don’t feel that issue either. That’s because of their characters and their screen age.”

Akshay Kumar praises Wamiqa

Akshay also spoke warmly about working with Wamiqa Gabbi, praising her dedication and approach to her craft.

“I first met Wamiqa when we were shooting for Bhooth Bangla. She works very differently. She keeps reading her scenes and rehearsing for them. She gets very serious. Tabu is more serious than her. Vidya, who I’m working with in Anees Bazmee ji’s film, on the other hand, believes in being a free actor,” he shares.

“Woh itni serious nahi hai. Pata bhi nahi chalta kab usne apna scene kar di. I pick up different things from their style. When I, especially, work with a newcomer, I observe them a lot to understand their style,” he adds.

When Salman-Aamir were asked about age gap

Earlier on the premiere episode of their celebrity chat show Two Much on Prime Video India, Kajol and Twinkle Khanna raised the same issue with Salman Khan and Aamir Khan.

In response, Salman and Aamir attributed it largely to storytelling trends, noting that fewer scripts are written with older female leads. Salman also cited the idea of “freshness” as one of the reasons behind his on-screen pairings with younger actresses.

Last year, Salman Khan also spoke about his age gap with co-star Rashmika Mandanna in Sikandar.

Addressing the criticism, he said, “Then they say there’s a 31-year age gap between the heroine and me. But if the heroine has no problem, and even her father has no issue, why do you have a problem, brother? When she gets married and has a daughter, I will work with her daughter, too. Her mother’s permission will be sorted.”

Bhooth Bangla to be affected by Dhurandhar 2?

Bhooth Bangla is all set to release on April 10. While many believe the success of Dhurandhar could influence its box office performance, Akshay Kumar, in an earlier conversation with PTI, clarified that the two films are very different in tone and appeal.

“There are different kind of films (being made). ‘Dhurandhar’ is a great film, I’ve seen it. This (‘Bhooth Bangla’) is a different film. ‘Dhurandhar’ is an adult film, this (‘Bhooth Bangla’) is for kids and families. When we made this film, we don’t look at what the current trend is, we rather looked at whether the story was good or not and accordingly we made this film. We never thought about the trend,” Kumar told PTI in an interview.

Apart from Akshay and Wamiqa, Bhooth Bangla also features Paresh Rawal, Tabu, and Rajpal Yadav in key roles.