Mumbai does not really sleep. It just lowers its volume for a few hours and keeps one eye open. On Monday night, somewhere between airport arrivals and late dinners, the city was doing what it always does, moving fast, thinking later.
That is when things went wrong with Akshay Kumar. It was around 9 pm in Juhu, the kind of hour when roads are busy but not jammed, when people push their luck a little with speed. Near Mukteshwar Road, a Mercedes came in too hot. What happened next unfolded in seconds but will sit with a few people for much longer.
The luxury car slammed into an autorickshaw from behind. The impact flipped the rickshaw, sending it skidding into the security vehicle that was part of Akshay Kumar’s convoy. The escort vehicle tipped over onto its side, metal scraping asphalt, traffic screeching to a halt.
Here is the detail everyone wants first, so let us get it out of the way. Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna were not in that vehicle. They were in a separate car ahead, returning from the airport after an overseas trip. They were not hurt. They did not witness the collision as it happened.
Behind them, however, the night unraveled.
People ran toward the crash before anyone could tell them not to. Someone shouted for help. Someone else pulled out a phone. It is always the same mix of instinct and curiosity. The autorickshaw driver was injured badly enough to need immediate medical attention. He was rushed to the hospital and remains under treatment. Early chatter suggested two people were injured. Police later confirmed there were no fatalities.
For a moment, the road became something else entirely. Not a shortcut home. Not a celebrity neighborhood. Just a scene, lit by hazard lights and passing headlights.
Juhu is used to famous names. It is also used in accidents. What made this one travel fast was the overlap of both worlds. A security vehicle connected to a star collided with one of the most vulnerable vehicles on Mumbai’s roads.
Police registered a case of rash and negligent driving against the Mercedes driver. According to preliminary findings, the car accelerated suddenly before hitting the rickshaw. The damage left behind made it clear this was not a minor scrape. Vehicles were badly mangled. The escort car lay on its side like a reminder of how easily control slips away.
By Tuesday morning, January 20, the news cycle was already in motion. Headlines sharpened. Social media filled in gaps with guesses. Clips and photos circulated, some accurate, some not. Through it all, there was no official statement from Akshay Kumar’s team. No carefully worded reassurance. No performative concern.
Honestly, that silence felt human.
Not every incident needs a spokesperson. Sometimes the focus belongs elsewhere. On the man in the hospital bed. The family is waiting outside. On the driver whose one decision changed an ordinary night.
The accident happened in Juhu, a place where morning walkers share pavement with film stars and evening traffic ignores everyone equally. By daylight, Mukteshwar Road looked almost normal again. Almost. The city is very good at erasing evidence of disruption.
But accidents like this leave a residue. They stir the same uncomfortable questions every time. Speed on narrow roads. Heavy cars brushing past fragile ones. Convoys designed for protection move through spaces that were never built for them.
Akshay Kumar’s life, like many at his level of fame, runs on planning. Security, timing, distance. Yet this incident had nothing to do with his choices. It was proximity, not participation. A reminder that being careful does not make you immune, only slightly luckier.
Something is unsettling about that.
The escort vehicle did its job in a way no one would wish for. It absorbed the impact meant for something else. The people inside it were shaken but alive. The people ahead of it were spared. The person behind it paid the highest price.
Police continue to investigate exactly how the collision unfolded. Statements are being recorded. Reports are being filed. That process will take its time, moving far slower than the crash itself.
For now, the facts are simple. A security vehicle was involved in a chain collision. An autorickshaw driver was injured. A famous actor and his wife were safe. Everything else is noise.
And yet, it is hard not to linger on the image of that overturned car on a familiar street. The idea that fame did not matter in that moment. The idea that it never really does when metal meets metal at speed.
Mumbai moved on, as it always does. Shops opened. Traffic returned. Conversations shifted. But somewhere, this night will replay again and again, in fragments. In the sound of impact. In the memory of headlights closing in too fast.
That is the part no headline can capture.
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Sana has been covering film, fame, and everything in between for over a decade. From red carpets to rehab rumors, she brings nuance, wit, and an insider’s edge to every story. When she’s not reporting, she’s probably watching Koffee With Karan reruns or doom-scrolling celebrity IG feeds.
