Akshay Kumar survived because of many things his conviction
His professionalism
His dedication to fitness
His martial arts background
His action hero image
His daredevilry
His dancing ability
His superhit songs
His superhit partnerships with multiple actors like Sunil Shetty
John Abraham
Saif Ali Khan
Amitabh Bachchan
Salman Khan
Ajay Devgan
And what not
Aamir Khan
Who was famous producer Tahir Hussain’s Son
Who gave bollywood one of its earliest international blockbuster Caravan
And nephew to Nasir Hussain
Who made multiple superhit movies
Salman Khan
Who was writer Salim Khan's son
From the famous Salim Javed duo
Who were superstar writers charging as much as Amitabh Bachchan
Ajay Devgan
Who was famous action director Veeru Devgan's son
Who monopolized action and stunt choreography in bollywood
And Shah Rukh Khan
Who like Akshay Kumar was an outsider but was a trained actor under Barry John
And had already faced the camera and found success in TV with Circus and Fauji.
Aamir Khan's official debut Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was a Superhit
Salman Khan's 2nd movie Maine Pyar Kiya Was an All Time Blockbuster
Ajay Devgan's debut movie Phool Aur Kaante was a Blockbuster
Shah Rukh Khan's debut movie Deewana was a Blockbuster
Whereas Akshay Kumar's debut movie was only a moderate success
He has to wait his fourth movie Khiladi did well albiet a sleeper hit only .
Akshay Kumar was according to me the weakest horse in the derby but found success somehow.His career graph is similar to that of yesteryear actor Jeetendra’s.
He kept doing multiple movies every year
Jumping from action movies
To comedies
To romantic movies
To 2nd leads
Double roles
To villainous roles
To patriotic movies with ease to stay in the game
He didn't have Sooraj Barjatya
David Dhawan
Yash Chopra
Karan Johar
Rohit Shetty for support regularly yet he made it
That's what Jeetendra did in the decades prior
Underworld or no underworld Akshay Kumar with his drive would have always found success because he's not Amitabh Bachchan
Nor Dilip Kumar
He's just Akshay Akshay !!!!