The Khiladi of Bollywood has not only made it to the 4th position among the highest-earning actors globally in the Forbes 2019 list but was also the only Indian on the list. Akshay Kumar also became one of the most philanthropic actors in Bollywood with his huge donations. In the Forbes list of richest celebrities, he made it to the 52nd position, where the only other Indian, Virat Kohli beat his position. With a net worth of around $273 Million (Rs 2050 crore), the actor made this amount not only from acting in Bollywood films but also from several other sources. His versatility allowed him to enter into different fields from a startup investor to a sports team. Here’s the list of Akshay Kumar’s other business other than Bollywood films:
Brand Endorsements
With an average visibility of around 33 hours on TV per day, Akshay emerged as the topper in the list of most visible celebrities in 2021. The actor is well known for targeting the personal care segment. It includes products ranging from deodorants to lip balms to moisturizers and many more. Some of the topmost brands endorsed by the actor are PC Jewelers, Fau-G, Honda, Tata Motors, GOQii, Nirma, Livguard Energy, Dollar, Policy Bazaar, Harpic, Suthol, Revital H, Cardekho and Lever Ayush among others. Not only this, he also indulges in endorsing a social cause, for instance, he became a part of a national level campaign #HelmetOnLifeOn led by Honda to increase the safety and awareness amongst the riders.
Recently in February 2022, this Bollywood star has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Uttarakhand. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami appointed him ahead of Assembly Elections 2022. Earlier, the cricketer Rishabh Pant held this position and charged no fee from the government.
Hari Om Entertainment Co.
This production company, co-founded by Akshay Kumar, his wife Twinkle Khanna and his mother Aruna Bhatia produced many super hit films in the Bollywood industry, such as Khiladi 786, Airlift, Naam Shabana, etc. The company is named after Akshay Kumar’s father, Hari Om. Aruna Bhatia passed away on the 8th of September 2021 due to some age-related health issues. The company even produced a hockey based Indo-Canadian film Speedy Singhs in 2011 in association with Telefilm Canada. Though he produced many films in the past, he never named himself in any of them. Instead his company’s name appeared in the credits on the screens. But for the first time, in the Marathi film “Chumbak”, his name appeared in the teaser because this film felt very appealing to the actor and feels proud to present it.
Grazing Goat Pictures
Another production house launched by Akshay along with Ashvini Yardi produced its first film “OMG – Oh My God!” a superhit film that bagged a few national awards. Launched in 2011, the company produced even regional films, like Bhaji in Problem in Punjabi and 72 Miles in Marathi. It even produced a Hindi soap opera named “Jamai Raja” which aired on Zee TV. Akshay made an appearance in almost all of his films under this production house banner except 72 Miles. In 2013, the company launched its Internet division Grazing Goats Digital. Its second product was a Youtube channel “FOMO Fashion On My Own”, India’s first Hindi fashion channel. The channel aims at providing beauty tips and online tutorials to women. It even produced films like, Singh Is Bliing, Fukrey, etc. There were no films recently produced by this production house.
Kabaddi Team
Pro Kabaddi League, an Indian Kabaddi league became the fastest-growing sporting league in India as far as viewership is concerned. Ever since this league started in 2014, more and more teams joined every season. Many celebrities and multinational companies too expressed their interest in the teams in this cash-rich tournament. Akshay Kumar joined hands with Future Group owner, Kishore Biyani to own a stake in the Kolkata-based Kabbadi team “Bengal Warriors” in 2017.
Various other film industry celebrities, like Abhishek Bachchan, Allu Arjun and Ram Charan picked their stakes too in a few teams. Akshay, known for his fitness and love for sports brought a wave of fresh air and positivity to the team. Even the players appraised Akshay’s involvement with the team. Akshay appreciated Star Sports’ efforts to bring Kabaddi to this level and popularise the game. Soon after the actor joined this team, it won its first league in 2019 by defeating Dabang Delhi.
Best Deal TV
India’s first celebrity-driven 24/7 Home shopping channel is owned by Akshay Kumar and Shilpa Shetty’s husband cum entrepreneur Raj Kundra. Launched in 2015, the channel is available on all DTH and cable platforms and on online platforms as well. Kundra raised around Rs 32 crore by selling a 15% stake in this company to a private equity firm, at a valuation of Rs 260 crore. Celebrities like, Ekta Kapoor, Ajinkya Rane, Shilpa Shetty, Sonakshi Sinha, etc were to make appearances on the channel, not as brand ambassadors, but as profit-sharing models.
GOQii
An Indian fitness technology company, founded by Vishal Gondal (the founder of Indiagames as well) offers a wearable fitness band that tracks our body movements and vitals. It comes with a mobile application and remote coaching. It became commercially available in India in 2014 after completing its beta program. The company has various investors on board, such as Mr Ratan Tata, Akshay Kumar, Denlow Investment Trust, DSG Consumer Partners, Galaxy Digital and more.
Akshay serves as the brand ambassador and advisor of this company. The actor invested in the company during its Series C funding round. He even said that the bands have been distributed amongst the police force of Mumbai, Nashik and Jalandhar during COVID-19 to prevent the spread of the virus. He donated 1000 smart bands to them. Also, Akshay Kumar starrer Bell Bottom’s whole cast and crew of 150 people received these bands to use during the whole shoot.
FAU-G
Fearless and United Guards, popular as FAU-G has been introduced by nCore games on the occasion of Republic Day as an alternative to the banned game PUB-G due to Indo-China tensions. Akshay Kumar launched this game as a part of the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ mission by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Within days of its launch, the game became the top free game on Google Play. It has a story mode based in Ladakh Galwan Valley, with brawler-style gameplay without any weapons.
Akshay revealed on Twitter that besides entertainment, the players will also learn about the sacrifices of Indian soldiers. 20 per cent of the net revenue generated by downloading this application goes towards the ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ trust. The trust provides support and homage to the country’s soldiers. This warzone game surely provides valuable information to the players along with gaming fun, plus it contributes towards the deserving sectors of society.
Women’s Self Defense Center
This initiative by Akshay Kumar and Aaditya Thackeray provides free training to women of all ages. The mission of imparting this training is to prepare the women of today for the challenges of tomorrow. The center is India’s first self defense & martial arts training gym located in Mumbai. They aim to teach women and girls the pressure points in a human body that produces devastating results. Also, they teach to fight, kick, punch and defend while fighting.
The OG Khiladi of Bollywood not only excels in acting but also masters kickboxing and karate. Akshay is seen teaching the girls some major self defense techniques. He shared on his social media handles on the center’s graduation day applauding a 6 year old girl learning the techniques at the center. She learns these techniques to practice self defense while playing football by not fighting with the players but letting them know to not even fight with her.
Socialswag
It is a new age platform that lets consumers connect with influencers, celebrities, and other inspirational influencers through personal interactions and learning forums. Masterclasses, NFTs, shout-outs, virtual selfies, etc. are some of the fun ways to interact and involve the customers. Education and entertainment are provided together on this platform, that is building a celebrity and influencer commerce platform. Rana Daggubati, Akshay Kumar and Mahesh Bhupathi founded this app in 2020. In a Pre-Series A funding round, this application raised $3.5 Million. It included other celebrities like Ritesh Deskmukh, Vinay Agarwal also, who participated in the round. Official NFTs worth INR 10 lakh of the movie ’83’ based on the life of Kapil Dev, were sold in just one hour on the Social Swag’s NFT platform.
This blockbuster actor not only earns this huge amount, but also contributes well to the society and the needy ones. He donated Rs 50 lakh to help artistes struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. He even donated Rs 1 crore to Gautam Gambhir’s organization to help the victims affected by COVID-19. Akshay always comes front when the citizens struggle during any natural calamities, any protests, or any wars. Let’s take him as an inspiration and spread peace and love.
Also Read: https://rbollywood.com/the-bravest-bollywood-actors-who-defeated-these-deadliest-diseases/