Farah Khan has often spoken about how her film Tees Maar Khan, which starred Akshay Kumar in the lead role, was not a box-office success, but later gained appreciation from audiences. Recently, Farah sat down with Akshay, Priyadarshan, and Rajpal Yadav to promote the Netflix release of their film, Bhoot Bangla. During the interaction, an interesting detail emerged: Akshay would travel to the Tees Maar Khan set every day by helicopter.
‘Mere saare paise kha gaya’
Explaining the incident, Farah said, “We were shooting for Tees Maar Khan in Malshej. The call time was 8 am every day. Everyone stayed there because it was about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Mumbai. But Akshay would go home every evening after pack-up and return by 7:45 the next morning.”
The revelation left Rajpal Yadav visibly stunned as he wondered how Akshay managed to travel such long distances every day. Akshay then casually revealed that he used a helicopter during the film’s shoot, leaving everyone in stitches.
Farah admitted that it was the first time she had seen “an actor treat a helicopter like a taxi,” but she also credited Akshay for always arriving on set on time. Akshay, however, defended himself, saying it should not have been anybody’s concern because he was also the producer of the film. Farah quickly shot back, “And so was I. Mere saare paise kha gaya (Spent all my money on him).”
Akshay then responded by saying that Farah had “made the most money on that film.” However, Farah laughed and suggested they call producer Ronnie Screwvala to ask what had happened to all their money.
About Tees Maar Khan
While Tees Maar Khan earned around ₹84 crore at the domestic box office, the film received mixed reviews from critics upon release. However, over the years, the film found a new audience after several scenes and dialogues from it went viral on social media and became popular memes.
Earlier, while speaking to Ranveer Allahbadia, Farah had shared how the film’s failure affected her personally and professionally. She said, “It puts you on the backfoot for a very long time. You move on, bounce back, and continue working, but somewhere in your mind, you’re always on the backfoot. It’s not that you start doubting yourself, but people try to push you towards self-doubt. Even when your film becomes a hit, people may make you feel like you can do anything. Then everyone blindly follows whatever you say because they think you know everything. You have to question that too. Career-wise, it wasn’t a good phase for me.”