Son of veteran actor Vinod Khanna, Akshaye Khanna is known for his work and not for his celebrity status. In fact, he can easily be called as one of the most underrated actors in the industry. He debuted in Bollywood with Himalay Putra, that released exactly two decades ago – 1997. However, Khanna hasn’t achieved the kind of recognition he deserved like most of his contemporaries.
Talking about his latest releases – Ittefaq, right from the critics to the janta-janardan, everybody were raving about Akshaye’s performance as the investigating officer. He completely stole the show and despite the fact that Sidharth Malhotra and Sonakshi Sinha were the actual highlights of the film, it looked like Ittefaq belonged to Khanna solely.
Well, this is not the first time when Akshaye Khanna managed to stand out with his performance in a starry affair. Last year’s John Abraham & Varun Dhawan starrer Dishoom, had Akshaye playing the antagonist – Wagah. In a limited screen presence, Akshaye still grabbed attention and applauds. One of the leading entertainment portals mentioned that “It’s always wonderful to see the cucumber-cool actor reminding Bollywood a thing or two about subtlety even when playing a woefully written villain as his in Dishoom.”
Even in a flop film like Tees Maar Khan, Akshaye’s performance was praised. “He overacts beautifully as is the demand of his character” is what critics universally had commented.
He was commendable in Abbas-Mustan’s Race as well. Especially, in one of the plot-twisting scenes, where he talks about his plan to kill Saif. He simply killed it as the jealous drunkard stepbrother in Race.
Well, not just Race, be it Border’s Lt. Dharamveer, the sweet lover boy Inder in Doli Saja Ke Rakhna, Manav from Taal, Sid from Dil Chahta Hai, Akshaye always brought the honesty and intensity in his characters. For each time he comes on-screen, there’s no doubt that he leaves the silver screen a little richer.
Interestingly, all throughout these years, it seems like we only know Akshaye Khanna through his characters only. Somehow, he made sure that his work speaks for him and his personal life doesn’t make headlines, which are usually made by other stars from the glitzy glam world.
Akshaye makes the most out of every role he gets but just doesn’t seem to get the limelight he truly deserves. And all we wish is he gets his due sooner or later!
