Very good to see trend of sports films: Akshay Kumar

Actor Akshay Kumar is happy that sports films are being made in Bollywood and it is not only cricket that has caught everyone's attention but other games are also in focus.
The trend of centring movies around wrestling and boxing seems to be catching up in Bollywood as Salman Khan is doing "Sultan" where he plays the role of a wrestler and Aamir Khan too be will be seen as a wrestler in "Dangal".
In the upcoming film "Brothers", Akshay will be seen in the boxing ring.
"I think it is very good that this trend is happening. It is good that sports is seen as a great subject in Bollywood and because of that, it's not only cricket but other sports as well like kabbadi, hockey are coming on-screen through films and that is good," Akshay said in an interview here.

"I hope martial art also comes in the forefront. I wouldn't be surprised if one day, like IPL, mix martial art (tournament) comes in," he said.
Starring Akshay and Siddharth Malhotra as "Brothers" - the film is an upcoming action-drama, based on mixed martial arts. Directed by Karan Malhotra, "Brothers" is an official remake of the 2011 Hollywood film "Warrior" and is set to release on August 14.

The film is pertinent to Akshay's life as he loves action and is trained in martial arts.
"Martial art has always been my first love and I always call myself a stuntman first and then an actor. This has been a comfortable space, I have enjoyed myself working on this film. I am glad that people have started making films on martial art and self defence which is actually the need of the hour," Akshay said.

"I am happy that somebody is making a film on martial art. We both (Siddharth and I) are mixed martial art students and (in the movie) it so happens that we are brothers and we hate each other and come in the ring," he said.
The "Holiday" star thinks the government must make martial art a compulsory subject in schools.
Citing an example, he says, "Like how it happens in Singapore, there the crime rate is 0.03 per cent, it is because everybody out there have to do three years self defence training.
"I would always say to the government to make martial art compulsory for every student in school," he said.

For "Brothers", Akshay trained for four months and it was tough. "The most important thing in this film was not about me kicking or punching, it was more about conditioning. All the punches that you will see are 60 per cent real. We have to hit each other as that is what we have been taught. For four to five months we had to learn conditioning of body."
Akshay, 47, said he got along well with Siddharth on the sets as there are many similarities between them.
"He is great to work with, he reminds me quite a lot of me. He is from Delhi, his father is from army, he is tall, a Punjab, he is into fitness, he gets up early, sleeps early - a lot of similarities between us," he said.