Akshaye Khanna

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Akshaye Khanna was born in Mumbai to famous actor/ politician Vinod Khanna and to ex model Geethanjali Taleyarkhan as the younger of two sons. He is the younger brother of actor Rahul Khanna.He developed a passion for cinema early on and enrolled in Kishor Namit Kapoor Acting Institute where he studied acting, which subsequently led to his entry into cinema in the year 1997 under his father’s own production.

Akshaye Khanna is not yet married but in the past has been said to be in relationships with actresses like Tara Sharma , Riya Sen and British Model Sera.

Akshaye Khanna made his Bollywood Debut in the year 1997 with the romantic movie Himalaya Putra; which was funded by his father’s own production house. The movie was a commercial let-down but Khanna got wide spread recognition in his next project; The war drama Border, where Khanna was seen sharing the screen long with an ensemble cast consisting of Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty and Jackie Shroff. The J.P Dutta directorial proved to be Khanna’s breakthrough into Mainstream as it fetched him a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor that year and also caught him under the limelight for his splendid performance. The short unsuccessful phase ( late 1997 -1999) Akshaye Khanna had a pretty much off phase in the beginning of his career after Border beginning with the romantic drama Mohabbat opposite Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Kapoor which was declared a flop at the box office. This was followed by an array of complete washouts like Kudrat, Laawaris, and Love You Hamesha , all of which were insignificant additions to Khanna’s filmography at that point. Back to prominence ( late 1999) Akshaye Khanna got some respite in Rishi Kapoor’s maiden directorial Aa Ab Laut Chalen where he appeared alongside Rajesh Khanna and Aishwarya Rai; the movie broke Khanna’s unsuccessful short commercial run even though it emerged only as a mediocre hit and Khanna again received positive reviews for his heartfelt performance. The musical romance movie Taal, opposite Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai ensured a dreamy follow up for Khanna as it fetched an instant classic and also had commercial success. Career break in Dil Chahta Hai (2001) After an cold outing in Dahek in the end of 1999, Akshaye Khanna took a self-forced sabbatical from cinema for almost two years only to comeback in Farhan Akhtar’s directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai, where he appeared alongside Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan; incidentally Khanna was initially roped in initially to play Aamir’s character “Akash” in the film but later was swapped due to the sudden entry of Khan into the movie after some casting mishaps. The iconic coming of age movie had Khanna play Siddarth Sinha aka Sid , a wannabe painter who falls in love with a divorced elder women played by Dimple Kapadia amidst a surrounding that does not recognize the kind of love he develops for her, Akshaye Khanna was seen in his very best where he had the occasional light hearted moments backed up by being the so called “go to guy” of the three friends and also got to mouth absolute joyful dialogues and Dil Chahta Hai is still considered to be a cult movie and had a good box office run then. The modern day classic friendship saga also won him Post Dil Chahta Hai Phase ( 2002-2004) Akshaye Khanna was cast next by hit maker duo Abbas–Mustan in the thriller Humraaz opposite Bobby Deol and Amisha Patel; where he incidentally played a con artist, first time appearing in a character with negative shade, the movie went on to be a hit and garnered Khanna unanimous critical acclaim, further he also bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role in the year 2002. Akshaye Khanna in the meanwhile made his presence known in some comedy movies in the upcoming years in the super hit mindless entertainers Hungama and Hulchul, both directed by maestro Priyadarshan in the years 2002 and 2004 respectively. Career best performance in Gandhi my father (2006 – 2007 ) Akshaye Khanna faced major setbacks throughout 2006 with cold responses for his consecutive releases like Shaadi Se Pehle, Aap Ki Katir and the forgettable outing in the romantic anthology Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love in 2007. The average grosser drama Mere Baap Pehle Aap. Akshaye Khanna however silenced his critics by coming back with a breathtakingly spectacular performance in the biographical movie Gandhi My Father; which Dealt with the troubled relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal Gandhi. Khanna played Harilal Gandhi opposite Darsan Jariwala who enacted Gandhi. Khanna came up with a scintillating and awe inspiring performance in the movie which won him many accolades and is still considered to be Akshay Khanna’s career best performance till date. Akshaye Khanna recreated the critical magic by reuniting with the Hamraaz team once again ;only with a new heroine Uravshi Sharma, in the 2007 critically acclaimed thriller Naqaab where Khanna’s performance was cited by many critics and audience as the soul of the movie and also saw praise showered on him calling him the ‘Show Stealer’ of the narrative. Major turnaround in Race ( 2008) Khanna got his next big break yet again in the Abbas-Mustan action thriller Race; the Saif Ali Khan starrer had Khanna playing the prodigal brother of a rich businessman who conspires to kill his own brother. Khanna’s highly refreshing and understated performance in the antagonist role was also a huge blockbuster and garnered him wide spread positive word of mouth and also Best Villain Award at Filmfare. Last few projects ( 2009-2016) Akshaye Khanna was next in Zoya Akthar’s critically acclaimed directorial debut Luck By Chance; where he played himself in a cameo appearance. After playing the lead in the flop Shortkut- The Con is On, Khanna returned with Priyadarsan’s thriller based on Honour Killings, opposite Ajay Devgn which got positive reviews. No Problem, Tees Maar Khan, Delhi Safari and Gali Gali Chor Hai all had decent performances. Akshaye Khanna was last seen as the main Villain in Rohit Dhawan’s action comedy Dishoom along with Varun Dhawan and John Abraham which received commercial success although a critical flop.