page_title: Akshay Kumar
section_title: Personal life and off-screen work
hierarchical_section_title: Akshay Kumar / Personal life and off-screen work
caption_attribution_description: English: Akshay Kumar(centre) with his wife Twinkle Khanna(left) and actress and mother-in-law Dimple Kapadia(right)
context_page_description: Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, known professionally as Akshay Kumar, is an India-born naturalized Canadian actor, producer, martial artist and television personality who works in Bollywood films. In a career spanning over 29 years, Kumar has appeared in over 100 films and has won several awards, including two National Film Awards for Best Actor for his performance in Rustom and Pad Man, and two Filmfare Awards for Ajnabee and Garam Masala.
  Kumar is one of the most successful Bollywood actors of all time, having starred in 113 films, 52 of which were commercially successful.
  He was the first Bollywood actor whose films' domestic net lifetime collections crossed ₹20 billion by 2013, and ₹30 billion by 2016. Having done so, he has established himself as one of the prominent actors of Hindi cinema. When he began his acting career in the 1990s, he primarily starred in action films. Later, Kumar also gained fame for his drama, romantic and comic roles.
  Apart from acting, Kumar has worked as a stunt actor; he has often performed many dangerous stunts in his films, which has earned him the sobriquet "Indian Jackie Chan". In 2008, he hosted the show Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi.
context_section_description: After being engaged twice to actress Twinkle Khanna, the daughter of actors Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, Kumar married her on 17 January 2001. Together they have a son,  and a daughter. He is known as a protective father and keeps his children away from the media. He stated that he wants to "give them a normal childhood." In 2009, while performing at a show for Levis at Lakme Fashion Week, Kumar asked Twinkle to unbutton his jeans. This incident sparked a controversy which led to a police case being filed against them.
  Kumar stays in shape with a combination of kickboxing, basketball, swimming and Parkour as well as working out. While in standard eighth he had started practising Karate. He intended to open a martial arts school and the state government of Maharashtra allotted land for the school in Bhayandar. In 2004, he was honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Award for his outstanding achievements in Bollywood. In the same year, he presented the television series Seven Deadly Arts with Akshay Kumar for free.The following year Kumar was awarded the highest Japanese honour of "Katana" and a sixth degree black belt in Kuyukai Gōjū-ryū karate. 
   
  Kumar was initially a religious, practising Shaiva Hindu who regularly visited shrines and temples across the country, including the famed Vaishno Devi Mandir, but in March 2020 he stated, "I don’t believe in any religion. I only believe in being Indian". He is a teetotaller but has endorsed for a liquor brand in the past. Half of the sum was given for daan (charity work), of which he has been doing more of in recent times. He has also donated ₹5 million (US$70,000) to Salman Khan's Being Human Foundation. As of 2013, Kumar has been the Hindi film industry's highest advance taxpayer for six consecutive years. He paid ₹190 million (US$2.7 million) as advance tax payment in that year.
  On 9 August 2014, Kumar performed at his 500th live show. The show was held in O2 Arena in London as part of the inaugural function of the World Kabaddi League. His first live show was held in 1991 in Delhi. Kumar owns a team in the Kabbadi League. He helped Khanna with editing the drafts of her debut book Mrs Funnybones. Kumar also had donated a sum of ₹9 million to drought hit farmers in Maharashtra in 2015. He has also donated ₹5 million to aid drought affected people through the Maharashtra government's Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan.  In March 2013, he started a 30-bed cancer shelter for policemen in Naigaon.
  On 9 April 2017, Kumar and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh promoted a mobile phone app, Bharat Ke Veer, which allows users to donate money to families of people who sacrificed their lives for India. Again on 20 January 2018, he participated in the launch of an Anthem for the initiative. In an event in Delhi he appealed for people to donate to the Bharat Ke Veer cause, and ₹12.93 crores was collected.
caption: Kumar with his wife Twinkle Khanna (left) and mother-in-law, Dimple Kapadia (right).
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