Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna once had a deal: if Twinkle’s film Mela flopped, she would marry Akshay without delaying it any further. As fate would have it, the Aamir Khan-starrer failed at the box office, and the couple eventually decided to tie the knot. But their wedding came with its own funny adventure. While many actors talk about having a “working birthday”, Akshay went a step further — he had a “working wedding day.”

Recalling the unusual circumstances of their wedding, Suneel Darshan, who has worked with Akshay Kumar on around seven films, told Minutes of Masala that very few people attended the ceremony.

“It was just me and a few others. It was a private affair and they didn’t want to publicise it. This is what Akshay told me. We were shooting for Ek Rishta with Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhi and Akshay Kumar at Natraj Studio. It was his wedding in the evening. He told me, ‘Sir, I am getting married tonight, you will have to come with your family.’ It was quite funny. We packed up at 7:30 pm, and he ran away. He borrowed his makeup artist’s bike, put his helmet on and nobody could recognise him. He quickly reached home. Meanwhile, I went back home to change before heading to the wedding.”

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In the same interview, Darshan also expressed his displeasure with Twinkle Khanna over her comments about Mela. He said, “According to me, Twinkle was not fit for the role (in Mela). They got the casting wrong. The director tried to make it with love but she said some unsavoury things against the film and the director, which is not right. My point is the man, who was at the peak of his career, tried to work with a girl like you… you should be grateful.”

Speaking to Hindi Rush previously, Suneel Darshan said he was hurt by the way Twinkle discussed the film in the media.

“I felt very sad when Twinkle spoke about the film in the media. There was no dignity in the way she spoke. If someone starts saying things, the other person can respond ten times or even a hundred times more strongly. There are many truths in the film industry, but we also have to respect people’s dignity. Sometimes it’s better to let certain things be forgotten,” he said.

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Akshay Kumar, meanwhile, has recalled the circumstances surrounding their marriage with humour. Speaking on Aap Ki Adalat, he said, “When her film with Aamir Khan sahab, Mela, was about to release, we were having an affair. So I asked her, ‘Let’s get married?’ But she didn’t want to marry. So, she said she’d marry only if Mela doesn’t work. Everyone believed that Mela would work wonders because it’s an Aamir Khan film, with Dharmesh Darshan as the director. Sorry, Aamir Khan sahab, that film of yours didn’t work. But I got married because of you.”