When Farah Khan slammed Akshay Kumar for ‘washing his hands off’ her husband’s film Joker

While promoting his new hit horror comedy Bhooth Bangla’s release on Netflix India, Akshay Kumar was taken aback by a comment from Farah Khan. The filmmaker-choreographer revealed that the actor would arrive at the set of their 2010 heist comedy Tees Maar Khan every day via a helicopter. “Mere saare paise kha gaya” (I spent all my money on him), said Farah, much to Akshay’s surprise who said that he was a co-producer on the film. While the exchange was merely in jest, the two did have their share of troubles in the past.

The rough patch between Akshay and Farah started back in 2012, when he starred in her husband Shirish Kunder’s sci-fi comedy Joker. The film was produced by Shirish and Farah’s banner Three Company’s Productions, along with Akshay’s production house Cape of Good Films. However, only Farah showed up for the film’s promotions, with Akshay nowhere to be seen.

Akshay had done two films that failed at the box office with Farah and Shirish. The first one was his 2006 romantic drama Jaan-E-Mann, which also starred Salman Khan and Preity Zinta. And the second was Tees Maar Khan, which marked the debut of Farah and Shirish as producers. Despite the setbacks, Akshay agreed to star in Joker, despite its risky subject of aliens and extraterrestrial life.

However, by the end of the post-production, Akshay had had too many creative differences with Shirish and Farah. These differences included the film not being made in 3D, as promised to Akshay, and him being made to lip-sync to the song “Fakt You” despite his reservations with the double-meaning language.

Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Kumar in Joker.

How Farah managed Joker promotions without Akshay

That’s why he chose to distance himself from the Joker promotions, choosing to start shooting his next film, Milan Luthria’s 2013 gangster thriller Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara! instead. That left Farah to step up and promote her movie alone, with the characters of aliens joining her for the same.

However, since Akshay didn’t speak about his issues directly, Farah maintained that there are no differences with the actor, explaining his absence as a marketing strategy instead. “It’s a strategy, please don’t go by what you are reading in the papers. It’s somebody trying to do mischief. It’s a strategy we have adopted,” Farah told IANS at the time.

“We have just seen a lot of them doing Rowdy Rathore promotion. We didn’t want our film to look the same. It’s a very different film, it’s a kids-friendly film. Our USP are the aliens, and we want to play upon that,” added Farah. Akshay’s 2012 blockbuster action comedy Rowdy Rathore, directed by Prabhu Deva, had released just a couple of months before Joker.

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As Akshay backed out of promoting his film, Farah roped in an old friend. Some alien characters of Joker were unveiled at Mannat, the palatial seaside bungalow of Shah Rukh Khan, who headlined Farah’s first two blockbuster directorials Main Hoon Na (2004) and Om Shanti Om (2007). Even though he also had a physical altercation with Shirish at a party a few years before that, Shah Rukh graciously stepped in to help a friend in need.

Shah Rukh Khan promoted Farah Khan’s Joker in 2012.

“This is not somebody else’s film. Its’ Farah’s and Shirish’s. They’ve been my friends for years. I’m her friend which is why I’m doing this, why would I do it otherwise? She requested me, and I think it’s an interesting concept,” Shah Rukh said at the event, clearing the air on why he’s promoting a film starring Akshay Kumar.

A couple of month after Joker bombed at the box office, Farah finally opened up on Akshay’s abandonment of her film. “I just feel that actors need to be a bit more responsible. That’s my stand on the whole issue. If you are in a project and have taken money for it, you ought to be there till the end,” she told BollywoodLife.

“Both Shirish and I have moved on. That’s why we don’t want to give interviews on this particular subject. Being the producer, I did whatever I could to promote the movie. But when the actor washes his hands off, it sends the wrong signal to everyone,” added Farah. That’s why for her next directorial, Happy New Year (2014), she chose to reunite with Shah Rukh. The heist comedy turned out to be a huge hit, unlike Joker and Tees Maar Khan.

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When Akshay and Farah patched up

While Farah and Akshay patched up a few years later, it took them six years to collaborate again professionally. She choreographed him in the song “Ek Chumma” from his 2019 hit comedy Housefull 4, directed by Farhad Samji. They teamed up yet again for “Tip Tip”, a rehashed version of Akshay’s 1994 chartbuster “Tip Tip Barsa Paani”, in Rohit Shetty’s 2022 cop drama Sooryavanshi.

Also Read — Farah Khan says Akshay Kumar flew to Tees Maar Khan set daily by helicopter: ‘Paise kha gaya’

Farah recently hosted a chat with Akshay, Rajpal Yadav, and director Priyadarshan for the Netflix release of their film, Bh0oth Bangla. After Farah jokingly accused Akshay of spending all her money on the daily chopper ride to Tees Maar Khan set, the actor argued that he also co-produced the film and that Farah made the most money on that movie despite its box-office failure. Farah contested that, and suggested they check who made how much money with Ronnie Screwvala, whose production house UTV Motion Pictures also backed the film.