Akshay Kumar says his main inspiration to do ‘Gabbar is Back’ was to highlight the corruption and crime rates in his country.

Kumar returns to screens in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gabbar Is Back’ on May 1 and it was a storyline he was more than willing to get his teeth into.

“I did Gabbar is Back because of corruption.

“I am alarmed by the crime rates in India and even calculated the amount of money gathered due to scams, to add up to 12 trillion dollars.

“I compared the crime rates between India and other countries and the numbers in India are astonishing.

“Crime rates are low in countries such as the UAE due to strict law enforcement which isn’t the case in India. So you need a name like Gabbar, who may behave like a villain but his actions are of a hero.”

The film is a Hindi remake of Tamil film Ramana and sees Kumar take on the role of ACP Gabbar, leader of a vigilante group.

“Gabbar is centered more around delivering a message, rather than action sequences. Most of the instances in the movie are inspired by real life events.”

Working with Kareena Kapoor, (who is nicknamed Bebo) was something he was all too familiar with. “Bebo has been an integral part of my career. We’ve done many movies together and one can only hope we have many more to come. She is everything one could ever ask in a Bollywood actress.

“She will always know how deeply I appreciate her effort and expertise. I’m sure viewers are going to love her in this song. She has brought a kindness to our film like no other.

“We love working with each other. We had a great time while shooting for the song.”

He did clear up that the film had nothing to do with famous Gabbar from the classic, Sholay, “Gabbar is the hero in the film and a vigilante, who takes it in his own hands to put an end to crime and injustice. Both the characters are very different.”

His upcoming films would include Brothers, which sees him star alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez.

“It’s the official remake of 2011 Hollywood movie Warrior and based on the story of two estranged brothers, whose entrance into the mixed martial arts tournament forces them to come to terms with their past and each other.

“After this, I will have Singh is Bliing, a fantastic action comedy directed by Prabhu Deva and produced under my production company Grazing Goat Pictures. I am joined on screen by the very talented actresses Lara Dutta and Amy Jackson. We will shoot in Patiala, Punjab for this movie.

“In Jan 2016 I have ‘Airlift’ releasing which is based on the invasion of Kuwait. I am playing the role of Ranjit Katiyal, an Indian-Arab billionaire who plans an ambitious evacuation mission to rescue 170,000 Indians in Kuwait during the Iraq invasion.”