Akshay Kumar Freshly Squeezed

Plonking himself on the leather couch, he runs a hand over a nasty, still fresh gash on his left cheek. Rough night? 8216;8216;Nope, an Alsatian bite,8217;8217; he says with a lazy smile. 8216;8216;I was shooting with over 30 Alsatians for Waqt and one of them clawed me.8217;8217;

You can8217;t help but observe that the gash makes him look sexier. 8216;8216;Think I should keep it permanently?8217;8217; he asks. 8216;8216;Definitely,8217;8217; I reply. 8216;8216;Oh, you girls nah,8217;8217; he drawls.

The girls have always loved him but post the twin successes of Khakee and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Kumar8217;s appeal has gotten broader. Trade analysts say the Delhi-born actor, who made his Bollywood debut 14 years ago, is now firmly part of the A-list. 8216;8216;Earlier he was known as an action hero and didn8217;t have a big overseas presence but now he is in the top five bracket,8217;8217; says Taran Adarsh, editor of Trade Guide.

Kumar8217;s rising popularity can be gauged by the fact that he has upped his price to Rs 2.5 crore from Rs 1.5 crore four months ago. He8217;s also supposedly negotiating a Hollywood project but is reluctant to share details before the deal is signed.

Counted among Bollywood8217;s most professional 8216;8216;all my producers repeat me8217;8217;, the actor has some biggies lined up. After Aitraaz, there8217;s Anil Gadar Sharma8217;s Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon, Boney Kapoor8217;s Bewaafa, Waqt, Barsaat, Mere Jeevan Saathi and Priyadarshan8217;s next with John Abraham.

And after his National Geographic show Seven Deadly Arts With Akshay Kumar, he8217;s now the ambassador for Mumbai-based heart care foundation, Good Heart. The actor is excited about the recent promo he did for them in which he leaps from a

24-storey building in the posh suburban colony of Lokhandwala. 8220;I8217;m going to Goa but I want to see the CD before the ad is released, so get it along today or send it there,8221; he tells his manager on the phone.

8216;8216;He8217;s a true Punjabi, a modern-day Dharmendra,8217;8217; says producer and director Suneel Darshan, who is working with Kumar on four films. 8216;8216;He has a face that oozes vulnerability and a body that exudes strength.8217;8217;

Thanks to that face and body, his female following has always been more than robust. How does he handle the fairer sex? 8216;8216;They handle me and I have no complaints,8217;8217; he guffaws. Last month in London, on vacation with wife Tina formerly Twinkle Khanna, the couple were strolling on the street when they heard excited shouts. In two seconds, about 50 female fans surrounded Kumar. 8216;8216;They were all over me8230; I quite liked it. My wife was quite impressed with my popularity,8217;8217; he jokes.

8216;8216;He has a crazy sense of humour,8217;8217; says Bipasha Basu, who has worked with the actor in Ajnabee. 8216;8216;As to why women find him hot, that8217;s simple. He8217;s the only conventionally good-looking guy around.8217;8217;

Kumar says his ladies8217; man reputation today is atonement for his past when he actually played the field. Back then, he had a series of relationships with actors like Shilpa Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Pooja Batra and, believe it or not, Rekha. 8220;I was young and went through a phase but each time I fell in love, I was really in love,8221; he says.

He even attributes his reel name Akshay to matters of the heart. Rajiv Bhatia, son of accountant Hari Om and homemaker Aruna, changed his name because of 8216;8216;someone I loved. We couldn8217;t be together, her boyfriend8217;s name was Akshay. I took his name khundak mein and would you believe it, I signed my first film the very day I changed my name,8217;8217; he chuckles.

Yet you8217;ll rarely catch Kumar saying his appeal lies in his looks. 8216;8216;I am pucca Punjabi. No champagne and caviar for me. It8217;s good old fresh fruit juice and lassi,8217;8217; he says as he restlessly does a few stretches on the couch. He doesn8217;t smoke, is a teetotaller and begins his day by praying to Shiva. He firmly believes that producer Pramod Chakraborthy signed him on for his first film Deedar because 8216;8216;the first thing I did was to touch the Shivji ka mandir in his office8217;8217;.

Co-star Kareena Kapoor was nine when Deedar, starring Kumar and her sister Karisma, was filmed. 8216;8216;I just knew that one day I would work with him,8217;8217; says Kapoor, who watched in her school uniform as the duo executed their first shot. 8216;8216;He8217;s the perfect gentleman. He8217;s the kind of guy who opens doors for ladies, offers them his chair. And he has a beautiful face.8217;8217;

Before his tryst with cinema, Kumar was a martial arts teacher who doubled as a waiter in Bangkok. 8216;8216;I would look at Sridevi8217;s posters while washing utensils,8217;8217; is his oft-repeated quote.

Kumar also dabbled in modelling for a while and trained as a background dancer. 8216;8216;I have danced at Togo Fogo Nite at Mumbai8217;s Shanmukhananda Hall where I was paid Rs 100 for one performance,8221; he says.

Those days, though long gone, are not forgotten. 8220;In my life, everything has come the hard way. Even when I had 14 flops in a row, I was never disheartened. I would just return to the house in Sion Koliwada where I stayed when I first moved to Bombay in 1987. I would look at my Rs 40 lakh Peugeot and say to myself, main kahan se kahan pahunch gaya. God has been so kind, I have no reason to complain.8221;

His one big desire is to open a martial arts school in Mumbai. 8216;8216;Nobody8217;s helping. The suburbs are too expensive. The government is giving me land in Thane and Bhayandar. Wahaan toh main bhi naa jaaon, toh students ko toh bhool jaao.8217;8217;