8 times when Akshay Kumar deserved an award for his performances, but missed it

‘Sangharsh’ (1999)

A much underrated film in Bollywood, this Tanuja Chandra-directorial had witnessed Akshay Kumar playing the role of a convict named Aman Varma, fondly called as Professor. It was one of the best roles from the actor where he showed his true potential as a serious performer. But even after receiving praises from the critics, the movie went unnoticed at the award functions. But the performance of actor Ashutosh Rana was recognised as he picked up an award for his role as Best Villain.

‘Hera Pheri’ (2000)

This comic-caper is considered to be a cult film today in the genre of comedy movies. It starred Akshay with Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. Though much of the limelight and accolades were won by Paresh Rawal for his popular character Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, it can’t be denied that Akshay’s comic timing was impeccable. It was one of the first few films which actually showed Akshay’s humorous side but it didn’t fetch him any popular Bollywood award.

‘Dhadkan’ (2000)

Taking a break from his action avatar, ‘Dhadkan’ had seen Akshay’s strong performance, that of a perfect and simple family man. His performance had carried more maturity and sensitivity. The film was a huge success at the box office and is still remembered for the performances of Akshay along with his co-stars Suniel Shetty and Shilpa Shetty Kundra. But as fate would have it, this performance too couldn’t make it to the nominations of popular Bollywood film awards.

‘Waqt: The Race Against Time’ (2005)

Akshay Kumar had played the role of a carefree rich son named Aditya Thakur who gets to know about his responsibilities through his ailing father (played by Amitabh Bachchan). Yet another terrific performance which saw Akshay’s transformation from being a negligent to turning a responsible man, proving his acting calibre. He had perfectly matched to the level of intensity delivered by Amitabh Bachchan. The movie was a success but didn’t find a place at the award ceremonies.

‘Namastey London’ (2007)

This romantic-drama witnessed a very restrained yet very strong and emotive performance from Akshay Kumar. He had equally balanced his character's emotions while performing a romantic, emotional and also hilarious scenes. He received his second Filmfare Best Actor nomination for this film that year, but lost it out to Bollywood’s Baadshah, actor Shah Rukh Khan who picked it up for his performance in ‘Chak De! India’.

‘OMG – Oh My God!’ (2012)

This satirical comedy-drama saw Akshay playing the role of Lord Krishna. Though the actual screen time of the role was very short but Akshay effectively pulled it off creating magic with his co-star Paresh Rawal, who played the protagonist. He got his fourth Filmfare Best Supporting Actor nomination for this film that year, but lost it out to veteran actor Annu Kapoor who bagged it for his performance in ‘Vicky Donor’. Before, ‘OMG – Oh My God!’, Akshay was nominated in the same category for his performances in ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, ‘Khakee’ and ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi’, without ever winning it.

‘Special 26’ (2013)

Akshay Kumar teamed up for the first time with director Neeraj Pandey, known for his directorial debut film ‘A Wednesday’. This heist crime thriller (released in 2013) was inspired from a true event of 1987. It saw Akshay delivering an impeccable performance which literally earned him the tag of a complete actor in Bollywood. This was considered to be his best performance till the year 2015, but sadly it didn’t fetch any nomination for him at any popular Bollywood film awards.

‘Baby’ (2015)

This was the second association between Akshay and director Neeraj Pandey after ‘Special 26’. It was an action spy thriller which according to many critics and moviegoers saw Akshay surpassing his best performance that was earlier delivered in ‘Special 26’. Many believed that he deserved accolades for his role of Ajay Singh Rajput, but yet again there wasn’t a single nomination for the actor and the film at the award functions. His performance in ‘Baby’ too went unnoticed.