Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar is back in Toronto to promote a new film.
"When Tees Maar Khan ( The Invincible) opens Dec. 22, the film will floor everybody - South Asians and mainstream Canadians,'' gushes the actor who is known as the Jackie Chan of Bollywood for his action role in the Khiladi (Top Player) series.
Mr. Kumar hopes to repeat the success of his 2008 blockbuster Singh is Kinng, which was well received in North America and cemented his position as Bollywood's leading actor - he also has the dubious distinction of paying the most taxes of anyone in India's film industry.
The veteran of 130 films plays the role of a con man in Tees Maar Khan.
"I play the uneducated con man named Tabrez Mirza Khan who robs a train containing 10,000 kilograms of antiques. The beauty of the film is that all characters unwittingly help me in my nefarious game. I rob the train with their help but none of them knowing that they are helping me,'' he says.
Tees Maar Khan, the trailers for which have garnered millions of hits on YouTube, has been jointly produced by Mr. Kumar's actress-wife Twinkle Khanna.
Mr. Kumar says he has also given the finishing touches to his first Hollywood film, Break Away, which will be released this spring.
Shot in Toronto, Break Away takes a light-hearted look at cross-cultural issues facing immigrants in Canada, with hockey at the centre of the story.
" Break Away is about a Toronto-born Sikh guy who is so obsessed with ice hockey that his whole family turns against his addiction to Canada's national sport,'' says the actor.
"It is a comedy about cultural issues. It shows how the boy's immigrant family copes with cultural conflicts and finally comes to terms with ice hockey in their new life here."
He says Break Away will resonate with Canadians because "all immigrants go through the same struggles and conflicts when they come here. This film is as much about South Asian audiences as the mainstream.''
Mr. Kumar who carried the Vancouver Olympics torch through Toronto and was later appointed Canadian Tourism's brand ambassador in India, says Canada is his home away from home.
"I just love this country. I have been to Canada hundreds of times, but I still prefer to be here every time I get out of India. I have shot in dozens of countries in my 22-year film career, but nothing matches Canada."
With tourism to Canada from India picking up by 20 per cent despite the global meltdown, the actor says, "I am trying my best to sell this great country in India. I tell people in India that if they want to see 'jannat' [ paradise]on Earth, then please go visit Canada.
"The geography and the weather of this country are without parallel."
Special to the Globe and Mail