Will Sonakshi Sinha's Akira role establish her as a bonafide action star?

The sphere of the female action star has had quite a few iconic names. Think Sarah Connor. Katniss Everdeen. Imperator Furiosa. The Bride. Lara Croft. Warrant Officer Ripley. [caption id=“attachment_2966342” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sonakshi Sinha in AR Murugadoss’ ‘Akira’[/caption] We could go on and on. Look homewards, and there isn’t exactly a lack of names to come up with — although one may argue that none of them occupy the action icon status that these above mentioned characters enjoy. Be it Rani Mukerji’s tough cop act in Mardaani or Deepika Padukone’s turn as a martial arts expert in Chandni Chowk To China (or as the proficient-in-warfare Mastani), Priyanka Chopra in the Don films, Drona and Jai Gangaajal or Madhuri Dixit in Gulab Gang — the Hindi film industry’s leading ladies haven’t shied away from throwing a punch or two (or several) in the name of artistic integrity. Most recently, actors like Shraddha Kapoor and Amy Jackson kicked ass (literally) in their films Baaghi and Singh is Bliing, respectively. [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“480”] Shraddha Kapoor kicked serious ass in ‘Baaghi’[/caption] But with her no-holds-barred, unapologetic and unafraid to beat up the bad guys turn in Akira, Sonakshi Sinha may just be our first bonafide (female) action star. The trailer for Akira ( watch it here) showed Sonakshi owning the rebel-without-a-pause persona that few leading ladies have inhabited with such ease in recent times. The promotions around the film have also highlighted the fight-happy nature of Sonakshi’s character in Akira. But what’s also been talked about is a ‘making of’ video for Akira that Sonakshi released a day ago. It depicts the actress perfecting the “Akira punch” — a combination of punches and a kick that she uses to deliver her signature knockout blows in the film. The just over a minute long video intersperses visuals from Sonakshi’s training sessions to the shooting of the fight sequences in Akira. “A little bit of me has always wanted to do something like this,” Sonakshi says in the video, before warning: “Don’t try this at home!” Watch the video here: