Karan Johar calls Akshay Kumar 'rare' movie star who supports first-time directors

Filmmaker Karan Johar on Monday said actor Akshay Kumar is one of the rare Bollywood stars who choose content over the scale of a project or director. After working on action dramas such as "Brothers" and "Kesari", Karan is once again collaborating with Akshay -- this time on the light-hearted "Good Newwz".

The producer said he originally planned to make a big-budget feature with the actor but Akshay decided on the upcoming comedy. "I have loved Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films and I always wanted to make such movies but Dharma (his production house) has never made a film like that. I went with a big film to Akshay because he is a mega movie star.

"Akshay's uniqueness is that he searches for content. He never looks for scale or opulence or who is the director. He is one superstar who has always supported first-time directors and that's rare for a movie star," Karan told reporters here. He was speaking at the trailer launch of "Good Newwz", directed by debutant Raj Mehta. The film also features Kareena Kapoor Khan, Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani.

Karan said "Good Newwz" marks Akshay's 23rd film with a budding director, claiming he is "the only movie star who has worked with so many debut directors".

Akshay recalled getting a narration from Karan regarding the other "big" film and said he found himself gravitating towards the slice-of-life story. "I asked Karan what else he was making. He told me he was making a small film called 'Good Newwz'. I asked him to narrate its story to me. After listening to it, I told him, 'Let's drop the other one and do 'Good Newwz'," the actor added.

The film is scheduled to be released on December 27.