Akshay Kumar Turns 59: From The Khiladi Of Bollywood To A Reported ₹2,500 Crore Fortune

Akshay Kumar turns 59 today, September 9, marking another year in a career that has lasted more than three decades and gone through almost every phase imaginable. Before the cars, properties, blockbuster paycheques and superstar status, there was a much more modest beginning. Born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, Akshay worked several jobs before entering films, including a stint as a waiter in Bangkok.

Modelling eventually led him towards acting and his film debut came with Saugandh in 1991. A year later, Khiladi changed his career trajectory and gave him the screen identity that would follow him for decades.

What has made Akshay's journey unusual is not simply his longevity. It is the sheer number of times he has altered his screen image without completely abandoning what audiences came to expect from him. He could be the action hero in the 1990s, the comic heart of Hera Pheri, a patriotic protagonist in Airlift, a morally complicated character in Rustom or the face of a socially driven film such as Padman. Even when the films themselves have been uneven, the willingness to keep moving has remained one of the defining features of his career.

Akshay Kumar's net worth: How the Khiladi built his ₹2,500 crore fortune

According to reports, Akshay Kumar's net worth is estimated at around ₹2,500 crore. Moneycontrol reported in 2025 that his wealth had crossed the ₹2,500 crore mark, with his financial portfolio extending beyond acting to include film production, endorsements, investments, real estate and other assets.

That fortune is a striking measure of how far he has travelled from his early years. Akshay has reportedly earned anywhere between ₹60 crore and ₹145 crore for a film depending on the project, while his long association with major brands has made endorsements another significant source of income. His production banner, Hari Om Entertainment, has also given him a stake beyond simply appearing on camera.

His properties reflect his wealth as well. Reports have linked him to a luxury duplex in Juhu reportedly valued at around ₹80 crore, while he has also been associated with homes in Canada, including properties in Toronto. He has reportedly owned a beachside bungalow in Mauritius as well as a Portuguese-style villa in Goa.

Then there is the garage. Akshay's reported collection has included a Rolls-Royce Phantom, Mercedes-Benz GLS, Mercedes-Benz V-Class, Range Rover Vogue and Porsche Cayenne. An Indian Express report had previously put the value of his reported seventh-generation Rolls-Royce Phantom at around ₹9 crore. These figures are based on media reports rather than a publicly disclosed inventory, but they nevertheless offer a glimpse into the lifestyle built around one of Bollywood’s biggest careers.

Yet wealth is only one part of the Akshay Kumar story. Perhaps more revealing is the discipline that has accompanied it.

Akshay Kumar's fitness, discipline and the lifestyle behind the stardom

Unlike the stereotypical image of a Bollywood superstar, Akshay has long spoken about avoiding late nights and maintaining an unusually strict routine. Early mornings, martial arts, yoga and carefully controlled eating have remained central to his approach to fitness. He has also continued to perform action sequences and stunts, maintaining the physicality that became central to his screen identity.

That discipline has mattered because Akshay has never really slowed down. At a time when many actors of his generation began reducing their output, he continued working across multiple films a year. This strategy has occasionally drawn criticism, particularly when the quality of his releases hasn't matched the volume, but it has also ensured that Akshay remains one of the most recognisable faces in Hindi cinema, and if his financial success tells one story, his best performances tell another.

From Hera Pheri to Airlift: Akshay Kumar's best performances

Akshay's early career was closely associated with action. The Khiladi films established him as a physical performer who could carry elaborate action sequences without needing a larger star around him. But comedy eventually revealed another side of his talent.

In Hera Pheri (2000), Akshay played Raju, a man whose desperation, stupidity and confidence somehow coexist in equal measure. Alongside Paresh Rawal's Baburao and Suniel Shetty's Shyam, he became part of one of Hindi cinema's most beloved comic ensembles. The performance worked because Akshay never played Raju as someone who was trying to be funny. His comic timing came from taking the character’s ridiculous circumstances completely seriously.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) offered another opportunity to move between comedy and drama. As psychiatrist Dr Aditya Shrivastav, Akshay had to anchor a film that constantly shifted between humour, mystery and psychological horror. The role required him to be charismatic without allowing the comedy to overwhelm the central mystery.

Then came Special 26 (2013), one of the clearest examples of Akshay using his star persona to serve a character rather than the other way around. Neeraj Pandey's 2013 heist drama drew on the 1987 Opera House heist and cast Akshay as Ajay Singh, a conman who poses as an income tax or CBI officer. The performance had charm, but also calculation. Akshay understood that the character needed to remain convincing enough for the audience to follow him into the deception.

His strongest run arguably arrived around 2016.

In Airlift (2016), Akshay played Ranjit Katyal, a Kuwait-based businessman caught in the middle of the Iraq-Kuwait conflict. The film was inspired by the evacuation of Indians from Kuwait and required Akshay to hold back rather than turn the character into another larger-than-life hero. His performance was controlled and understated, allowing the scale of the real-life circumstances to dominate the film.

That same year, Rustom gave him a completely different challenge. As Commander Rustom Pavri, Akshay played a naval officer whose carefully maintained public image begins to fall apart after he discovers his wife’s affair. The film drew from the real-life K. M. Nanavati case and became a major commercial success.

Along with Airlift, it also earned Akshay the National Film Award for Best Actor.

Padman also marked another side of his career. The 2018 film, inspired by Arunachalam Muruganantham's work, dealt with menstrual hygiene and the lack of access to affordable sanitary products. Akshay used his mainstream star appeal to carry a subject that Hindi cinema had rarely placed at the centre of a commercial film.

Gold, also released in 2018, saw him play Tapan Das, a hockey manager determined to see independent India win its first Olympic gold medal. The film gave him another opportunity to inhabit a character driven by national pride without relying entirely on the conventional action-hero template.

These films sit alongside a filmography that includes Kesari, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Mission Mangal, Good Newwz and the Housefull franchise. Not every experiment has worked, but the breadth of the choices explains why reducing Akshay Kumar to the Khiladi tag no longer tells the whole story.

Haiwaan and another chapter for Akshay Kumar

At 59, Akshay is still moving into territory that audiences may not immediately associate with him. His next major release is Priyadarshan's Haiwaan, which brings him back together with Saif Ali Khan 17 years after their last screen collaboration. The film also stars Boman Irani, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Saiyami Kher.

The film casts Akshay in a darker role as a ruthless antagonist opposite Saif, who plays a blind martial artist. The project marks another collaboration between Akshay and Priyadarshan, a filmmaker with whom he has previously created some of his most memorable comedies. This time, however, the pairing moves into psychological thriller territory.

Haiwaan is scheduled to arrive in theatres on September 11, 2026. The film has already received a U/A 16+ certificate from the CBFC ahead of its release.

Something is fitting about Akshay entering his 59th year with a role that once again asks him to move away from the image that made him a star. His career has never really been about staying in one place. The action hero became a comic actor, the comic actor became a dramatic performer, and the superstar increasingly began using his popularity to front stories about subjects outside conventional Bollywood entertainment.

The ₹2,500 crore fortune, the luxury cars and the properties may tell us how successful Akshay Kumar has become. But they do not fully explain why he has lasted this long.

That answer lies somewhere between the discipline that keeps him working, the willingness to take on unfamiliar roles and an almost relentless ability to keep the Khiladi moving. At 59, Akshay Kumar is still doing what he has done for most of his career, changing the game before audiences have completely figured him out.