When Akshay Kumar said he teaches women to scream as a part of self-defense

Akshay Kumar Pic/Instagram

Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, who has been hailed as the action superstar of the film industry, given how he performs a majority of the stunts himself, has put his skill set to use by training women in self-defense. For those unversed, Akshay and Aditya Thackeray run a free martial arts class for women in Mumbai's Andheri Sports Complex.

When Akshay sat down for an interview with mid-day.com as a part of Sit With Hitlist, he was asked about the same and how thousands of women graduate from the school.

Akshay recalled, "There was a recent case as well. A guy tried to molest one of the girls trained from my school. Forget resisting the molestation, she was so powerful that she beat him black and blue. He is in jail now. It's not about learning martial arts. Women have to understand that they should be able to combat blows. What happens when someone holds a girl's hands, she freezes. She can't believe that someone has caught her like this [inappropriately]. She doesn't scream, move or shriek. That is when a man takes advantage of her. I am trying to teach them how to be more confident in real life, besides being able to get out of an unfortunate situation."

"I teach them that they have to scream. I never have them come to the school in track pants. If people go to work in saree, they should come to learn in a saree. When someone attacks, you won't say, "Ruko track pant pehen ke aane do [Wait, let me wear my track pants]." They practice in heels, shoes everything. We have all kinds of students -from CEOs, to maids -training, free of cost. They come, enjoy the classes, and win medals. My farewell gift to them is a keychain with a whistle on it. When a girl whistles, the guy withdraws, and gets shocked. It scares him. It's an Israeli tactic," he added.

On the work front, Akshay Kumar was last seen in 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan'. He is set to be seen next in 'Singham Again.' Helmed by Rohit Shetty, the film, which will be the next in his cop-verse, will also star Ajay Devgn, Deepika Padukone, Tiger Shroff, and Ranveer Singh in lead roles. He also has the fifth installment of his hit comedy franchise 'Housefull' in the pipeline. Besides that he has 'Khel Khel Mein', 'Skyforce', and 'Welcome to the Jungle'. Akshay will also make his Telugu debut with Vishnu Manchu starrer 'Kannappa'. He will be seen sharing screen space with Prabhas, and Mohanlal.