Akshay Kumar defends his Houseful 4 look, says not trying to ape anyone

Akshay vs Ranveer: Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, who is playing a fictional historical character named Rajkumar Bala in "Housefull 4", has said that makers of the forthcoming comedy-drama film haven`t tried to ape any character from previous films.

Akshay Kumar was interacting with the media to promote `Housefull 4` along his co-actors Ritiesh Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde, Kriti Kharbanda and Chunky Panday on Thursday in Mumbai. The story of `Housefull 4` is based on reincarnation, spanning a period of 600 years from 1419 to 2019, and ever since the film`s trailer was released, many people have pointed out similarities between Akshay Kumar`s character and Ranveer Singh`s look in "Bajirao Masatani". Both characters are bald and based in history, and also have similar get-up and costume.

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"If that`s the case then are you trying to tell me that all bald characters will have some sort of similarity with Ranveer`s look in `Bajirao Mastani`? We are not trying to ape anybody in our film," Akshay said.

He added: "In the film, my character had a lot of hair when he was born, so his father names him Rajkumar Bala. However, two years later after his shahi mundan (ceremony where a child`s hair is shaved off and offered to the Gods), hair never grows on his head and he becomes bald. So, he gets very angry with the people who have hair on their head and beats them up or scratches their hair."

On Wednesday, team of `Housefull 4` took a special train journey from Mumbai to Delhi to promote the film. Talking about the unique promotional activity, Akshay said: "Generally, we don`t spend much time with the media because of our busy schedules, so we decided to invite the media for our train journey so that we can have some fun together. The Government has just declared you can promote culture or cinema on private trains, so we are first people to do that along with the media."

Ritiesh Deshmukh has been a part of `Housefull` franchise since its first part. He said, "For me, working in `Housefull 4` means getting back with close friends and having a great time, enjoying a paid holiday and working with people with whom I have never worked before. Through this franchise, I get the opportunity to work with lovely actors and that`s great fun for me."

For Kriti Kharbanda, this is her first "Housefull" film. Asked what the audience can expect from the film, she said: "It`s going to be a very entertaining film because reincarnation is supposed to be a serious subject but we decided to show people the funny side of it. I think it`s going to be very enjoyable experience for them and it has never been done before, so we are looking forward to seeing how the audience responds to it."

`Housefull 4` is directed by Farhad Samji, and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala.

The film is scheduled for an October 26 release.