A bit of real life in Akshay’s "Chandni Chowk to China"

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Actor Akshay Kumar’s experience of waiting tables in Bangkok finds resonance in a new Bollywood comedy about an Indian cook hoping to fulfil his destiny in China.

“Chandni Chowk to China” traces the journey of its protagonist Sidhu from the lanes of old Delhi, where Kumar spent his childhood years, to the Great Wall and other landmarks in China.

But Kumar did not comment on whether the film was inspired by real life.

“I was born in Chandni Chowk and I have waited tables in Bangkok but basically the story tries to convey that anyone can achieve his dreams if they put their mind to it,” the 41-year-old actor told reporters on Tuesday.

Kumar and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan are exceptions in a clannish Indian film industry that has for generations shoehorned its sons and daughters into instant stardom.

“Yet we have made it here and let me tell you it is not easy at all,” Kumar said.

“But if we have made it, anyone can.”

After surviving for nearly two decades in the industry, the actor has enjoyed a string of successes in the past two years.

Expectations are again high for “Chandni Chowk to China,” the first big-ticket Bollywood release of 2009, with its makers hoping to cash in on an amalgam of kung fu and Kumar’s comic timing.