Learning to play ice hockey before his upcoming co-production Breakaway begins

Akshay Kumar is taking lessons in ice hockey while shooting for Anees Bazmee's Thank You in Canada. Every opportunity he gets, he heads to the nearest skating rink and practises with the unit members.

Incidentally, the actor is co-producing Breakaway, an Indo-Canadian joint venture on ice hockey to be directed by Robert Lieberman. Shooting for the film begins on September 16 this year and Akki wants to master it before that. While he isn't acting in the film, he is a sports fanatic and is always excited about playing new games.

In the winter, he goes to the Nathan Phillips Square ice skating rink to skate. It's summer in Canada now and he has to practice at an indoor skating rink.

Excited about sport
Khiladi Kumar is quite adept at ice skating but is new to ice hockey. Adds a source, "Akshay is very excited about Breakaway, about an ice hockey player (Vinay Virmani) who hails from the Indo-Canadian community and the struggles he faces to establish himself.

Last month, when they met, Canadian PM Stephen Harper told him that he loves the sport. It was then that the actor decided to produce a film on ice hockey."

Vinay Virmani is offering Akki guidance on the sport. Ice hockey is big in Canada - almost like a religion - and Kumar wants to learn to play it soon.

Minting money
While shooting hasn't even begun, Akshay Kumar has already sold distribution rights to Canada's biggest distributor Alliance Films at a whopping price.

The company researched Akshay's background, his B-O appeal, star status and track record as a producer before buying the rights. Apparently, Breakaway will have a release in all major USA and Canada theatres akin to a Hollywood film.