Runima Borah Tandon
After a series of whirlwind romances and breakups with several of his costars -- Pooja Batra, Raveena Tandon and Shilpa Shetty, to name a few -- Akshay Kumar is finally getting engaged to Twinkle Khanna today at her mother Dimple's residence.
For an actor who has been consistently in the limelight for his numerous affairs, people close to him in the industry have a different opinion about him.
He has been called an orthodox Casanova, by close associates. He is known to be a godfearing man who makes frequent trips to Vaishnodevi and Shirdi and to all the religious places in Bombay.
Says Ajit Ghosh, who has been Akshay's PRO for two years, "Akshay is very kind to the poor, especially cancer patients. He does charity work regularly without any publicity.
"He is very seriously involved with Twinkle Khanna. Yes, he was romantically involved with Raveena Tandon and Pooja Batra. And Shilpa Shetty. I don't know what exactly went wrong between them."
"What I do know is that Akshay is very attached to his family. He was heartbroken when his father died of cancer. The relationship between Akshay and Twinkle developed exactly a year after his father's demise. Both parties agreed to hold the engagement today. Maybe within a year or so, they will get married."
People who know Akshay vouchsafe that he is charming, courteous and, above all, kind to everyone. "Everybody in the unit would say that he is a fantastic guy," adds Ajit Ghosh.
"He mingles around with all the unit members, talks and jokes around with them. He is very chivalrous and a thorough gentlman towards his costars. That could be one of the reasons why he is linked up with most of them."
Well-wishers of the couple are happy that Khiladi Kumar has finally made up his mind.
Says Rauf Ahmed, editor of Zee Premiere, "It's good that Akshay Kumar has finally decided to marry someone. I don't know him personally but I have known Twinkle since she was a kid. She's a lovely girl, very nice, pleasant and sensible, too. I hope it works out for her."
