Akshay Kumar doesn`t practice what he preaches. After giving up smoking, the six footer was signed on for a campaign for the Red and White cigarettes that won millions of smokers` support, leading to sale figures of the cancer stick skyrocketing to dizzying heights.

Now the daredevil actor has become quite an icon nationwide with his promoting the Bagpiper brand of whisky, though in the form of surrogate advertising. "There`s something immensely likeable and forthright about him that makes him stand out," feels Shabana Azmi on whose request the Khiladi conceded to do the television Family Planning campaign for an NGO.Now that the hunky actor has gone on record declaring that he would respect his wife Twinkle`s wishes in the matter of starting a family, he, it seems, is in a fix — he wants to be a father at the earliest. Mom in law Dimple sees eye to eye with him on this issue, but is Twinkle listening? She has made it known in no uncertain terms that she wants to be an interior designer and is considering enrolling herself for a one - year course in New York.

Akshay`s ex-girlfriends are finding it hard to suppress their laughter."Thank God, he doesn`t propagate one-woman relationships on the tube - for obvious reasons, there`ll be mothers running scared for their nubile daughters` safety," sniggered a sexy actress.