EXCLUSIVE | Akshay Oberoi on 'Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari' clashing with Rishab Shetty's 'Kantara': 'If our producer chose to release it on that day...'

Bollywood actor Akshay Oberoi has been a part of the Hindi film industry for more than a decade. The actor has dabbled with films and streaming opportunities both. He’s also making his debut in South with Yash’s Toxic, which releases on March 19, 2026 as per reports. His new film is titled Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, which also stars Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor, Sanya Malhotra, and Rohit Saraf.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actor spoke about his role in the film not too many people know about, working with the actors who star along with him, and his south debut Toxic.

Edited excerpts from the interview

How excited are you for Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari?

It’s an exciting film. It’s a film with lots of big and wonderful stars and directed by Shashank Khaitan. I had lots of fun making the movie. Usually, I’m very nervous, and I’m wondering what will people say and how will this impact my career and all kinds of vulnerabilities and insecurities show up. But this time around, I’m very relaxed, because I feel like it’s a fun film made with a lot of heart. And now it’s up to the audience to decide whether they like it or whatever. But I’m happy to have collaborated with Dharma Productions and Shashank, wonderful director, and the wonderful star cast of this wonderful laugh riot movie.

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Tell us something about your role

My role is like the lens of the audience. Not that he’s a narrator or anything like that. It’s just I feel like he’s representing what the audience must be experiencing. At least that’s how I approached him, because there’s a lot of antics going on screen as you can see the characters are breaking marriages and all. And a lot of questions will come up in the audience’s mind about the logics about what’s happening. And I think this character or my character represents what the audience is experiencing while watching these things happen. He’s sort of like the voice of reason in a way.

How was the experience of working with all the actors?

I love working with multiple actors. You learn something new from everyone because every actor is different and approaches the work differently. So there’s something to learn from each and every person’s process and what they’re doing and how they approach material. It’s so much more fun to work with an ensemble and a multi-starrer where, unfortunately, we don’t make a lot of them. Historically, I think things are changing now with the younger lot of actors. There used to be a time where we made multi-starrers then that whole kind of thing died out in between, and now it’s coming back. So I hope to do more of them because I love working with different types of actors and getting to know their process and watching them work and something new to learn.

It’s releasing the same day as Kantara Chapter 1. Do box-office clashes still matter?

I have no idea. I’m not a trade analyst. That’s up for the trade to decide, And our producer is one of the most successful people in the business. So he knows exactly what he’s doing. I feel that the film has two different audiences. Kantara is a whole a different audience. There is space for two films. We’ve also seen it historically that Lagaan and Gadar released together. Like, if the film doesn’t hold water and is rejected, there’s nothing you can do. I’m sure blockbuster clashes still matter.

You’re making your debut with Toxic. What can we expect there?

The less I talk about this film, the better, because it’s such an highly anticipated movie. Working with Geetu Mohandas was just some of the greatest joys of my life, wonderful director who really understood me as an actor, and encouraged me and pushed me. I mean, the rest is, of course, left to critics and audiences to decide how I’ve performed in the film.

And meeting Yash, I mean, one was to work with someone you’re a fan of. I’ve been a big fan of Rocking Star Yash, but, another was to learn about him and watch him and then get inspired by him. He’s fearless and he’s so loving and so inviting. And, there’s so much I learned by watching him in the sense of how to take control of your own career and believe in yourself. He has more belief in himself than anyone I’ve ever seen.