An article in Rediff has an interview with the famous Director duo Abbas-Mustan who were the pair to give Akshay his first big hit - Khiladi. The movie which was made in the nineties, featured Ayesha Jhulka, Dipak Tijori and Shaheen along with Johnny Lever. Thanks to this movie, his career was revived after a disastrous start with Deedar.

Now things are radically different with Akshay Kumar and he is a top marquee star- in fact a Super star. He has apparently charged a producer Rs 42 crore for a single film deal. In relation to that figure Abbas-Mustan say that he is worth that amount.

Akki's fee has zoomed skywards since last year after he deliverd 4 consecutive hits with Bhool Bhoolaiya, Heyy Babyy, Namaste London and Welcome.

Check out the interview at Rediff.
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/mar/13akshay.htm

They go on and praise Akshay Kumar lavishly saying he is one of teh most hard working stars and reports well before duty time. In the process he saves the producers tons of money. According to them Akshay works for 15 to 18 hours a day.