Veteran cricketer Sudhir Pandey has opened up about his career with Akshay Kumarrevealing that the actor sometimes relied on a teleprompter while filming long scenes in ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’. Having shared screen space with Akshay in films like ‘Paandav’, ‘Tees Maar Khan’, ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ and ‘Padman’, Pandey also praised the growth of the actor, saying that his performance has improved over the years.
Sudhir Pandey on Akshay Kumar’s use of teleprompters
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Sudhir was asked about the long-standing controversy surrounding Akshay’s use of flash cards and teleprompters on set. Reflecting on their earlier interaction in ‘Paandav’, the veteran actor said that Akshay initially struggled to memorize his dialogues, though help was available.Talking about the actor’s work style, Sudhir said, “Tees Maar Khan mein toh utna nahi kiya tha. Par ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ mein usne help liya tha long sequence mein. Ab ho sakta hai use ek suvidha milti hai, so woh usey abhi abuse karne laga na hai. ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ for a long time you may have started using it wrong. It is not easy to change something new when you get used to it.When asked if the big cards placed in front of Akshay are distracting other players from the situation, Sudhir dismissed the concern.“No, eye contact toh hota rehta hai. Yeh toh sirf help karne ke liye rehta hai.” (No, eye contact is maintained the entire time. It’s there to help)The actor also explained that his style of acting is very different. He said he likes to set up the whole conversation before he does it and wouldn’t dare copy the teleprompter while looking at the camera. When Siddharth Kannan asked if such a place would be available to an actor, Sudhir smiled and admitted that he “doesn’t know.”
Sudhir Pandey praises Akshay’s transformation
Talking about Akshay’s performance, Sudhir confirmed that the actor has changed a lot over the years.“Akshay was quite raw. If we compare him now, there have been leaps and bounds in his work. He used to repeat a lot. But by repeating, he used to improve his work. Repetition is not a bad thing. Now times have changed. Now, you can take back as much as you want. But in those days, there were stocks and manufacturers were keen to get them back.”According to Sudhir, Akshay has always done well, then he became a great actor.
Suneel Darshan had revealed the same
Sudhir Pandey is not the first from the industry to talk about Akshay’s reliance on dialogue. Earlier, filmmaker Suneel Darshan also confirmed that the actor sometimes uses posters while filming.Speaking to Vickey Lalwani, Darshan said, “It’s great if an actor can memorize his lines, but for him it was always difficult to remember full pages of dialogue. It was possible at first because he was working on a small scale, but he had a problem in the last years we worked together. We used to put signs for him to read from the first person, and he is not the first person.”Akshay Kumar was last seen in ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, which received a lukewarm response at the box office.