Akshay Kumar is trending on social media, perhaps not for reasons he would appreciate. The actor has found himself in the limelight, improbably, after the launch on Monday of India’s moon mission, Chandrayaan-2.
Last week saw the release of the trailer of Mission Mangal, the actor’s upcoming film about India’s 2013 mission to Mars.
Uncharacteristically, the Indian Space Research Organisation that undertook the moon mission tweeted its support for the Bollywood film.
This sparked snide remarks on social media about how Kumar seemed to find a way to make films about significant events and vicariously grab the glory.
In addition to Mission Mangal about India’s 2013 Mars mission, Kumar has appeared Gold, which focuses on India’s first post-Independence hockey gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics, and Airlift, which dealt with the 1990 evacuation of Indians from Kuwait following its invasion by Saddam Hussein.
Now, following the successful launch of India’s second lunar mission, memes on Kumar preparing for a future film about Chandrayaan-2 are all over social media.
Meanwhile, the film has been under the scanner for reportedly focusing too much on Kumar’s character, even though the mission’s success is largely credited to ISRO’s women scientists – played by Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Kirti Kulhari, Nithya Menon and Taapsee Pannu.
One tweet made a reference to star athlete Hima Das.
Another suggested that after making a film about the mission to Mars, the actor would embark on projects related to the other planets.