Producer-director Vipul Shah, who has teamed up with Akshay Kumar in five films so far, says their previous movie 'Action Replayy' failed at the box office because of the actor's 'geek look'.

Shah and Akshay have collaborated in films like 'Waqt', 'Aankhein', 'Namastey London', 'Singh is King', besides 'Action Replayy'. "As a director, I have always tried new things. I have never repeated genre. After 'Aankhein', I never did another thriller, never made a family drama or a romantic film after 'Waqt' and 'Namastey London'.

Most of the time it has worked for me but not in case of 'Action Replay'," Shah said in an interview here. 'Action Replayy' released in 2010, which was a time-travel romantic comedy, directed by Vipul Shah had Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles. Both the actors had donned look of the 1970s, the film bombed at the box office.

"People told me the biggest reason (for the film not working) was Akshay's look. They (audiences) couldn't digest a good looking man to be shown like this. To a certain extent, I agree to this.


The film has not do well in theatres but on satellite, it is Akshay's highest rated film," Shah said adding that one needs to learn from mistakes and move on. Shah and Akshay share a great bond, both at personal and professional. "We have done six films in last ten years and share a good success ratio. We have been able to challenge each other to give our best as actor and director.

As a combination, we have done well," Shah said. The 41-year-old director said that Akshay has always challenged him to come with new scripts and genres and that they both understand each other well.


The actor-director duo have teamed up once again for 'Holiday- A Soldier Is Never Off Duty', directed by A R Murugadoss. The film is a remake of 2012 Tamil film 'Thuppakki', which was also directed by Murugadoss. The film which focuses on terrorism and sleeper cells, releases on June 6.

On directing a film with Akshay, Shah said, "I will start my film as a director by the end of this year. I can't talk much about it. Currently, I am thinking only about 'Holiday'."