Mumbai, June 12: Bollywood’s khiladi No. 1 Akshay Kumar met a bigger khiladi in size, at least in his Mumbai home yesterday morning. WWE superstar Kane, an idol of Akki’s son Aarav, visited the actor’s family, and the six-year-old was almost sleepless the night before, overcome with excitement.
Kane turned up in jeans and a white shirt, looking most unlike The Big Red Monster he is in the wrestling arena. Only his size, 323 pounds, and imposing height, 7 feet, set him apart. Akshay wore a long-sleeved T-shirt. “I told him to cover up because he’d never be able to compete with Kane,” said wife Twinkle. Akki later changed into jeans and a white shirt, too, so they would be perfectly matched. Incidentally, they are both 42. Kane was born in April 1967. Akshay was born in September. Plus, they share a liking for Jackie Chan.
While in Delhi, Kane had expressed his admiration for Akshay. “I believe he’s the Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarznegger of India,” he said to HT City. The actor was no less impressed by his guest. Before Kane arrived, his flight delayed, Akki was on the phone, talking about the ‘chokeslam’, Kane’s signature move.
A nice, big breakfast
The star couple prepared a big meal to welcome him porridge, bacon and sausage, stuffed omelette, aloo parathas (served as “potato pancakes”), mango, litchi and mango shake. Kane, who loves pizza and generally has a protein shake for breakfast, tucked in happily. “He likes protein shakes, I prefer mango shakes,” grinned Akshay. “He has Myopax, I have ma ka parathas.”
The awestruck kids Aarav and his little cousin, Twinkle’s sister Rinke’s four-year-old daughter were waiting patiently for their share of Kane’s attention. But when the time came to tackle the man mountain, they took fright.
They ran into the next room when Twinkle told Aarav that Kane would chokeslam him. They were not put off wrestling, though. The sounds coming from the other room convinced their parents that they were recreating a ring inside. A long while later, Akshay’s secretary Zenobia emerged, all ruffled. She admitted to being tortured. Kane was amused. “When my wife’s daughters were young they, too, thought I was neat,” he recalled with a smile. Not so scary, after all.
-Agencies