Akshaye Khanna played the character of Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb in the blockbuster period drama film, Chhaava, and as expected, he simply went into the skin of his role. Whenever the ‘silent menace’ appeared in the film, the audience adored him with loud whistles and claps. Akshaye Khanna was so serious about his role that he didn’t interact with his co-star, Vicky Kaushal, who played Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. Hence, the tension between the two actors on the big screen looked so natural and authentic.
A look into Akshaye Khanna’s acting career: From comedy roles to playing ‘silent menace’ in Chhaava
Akshaye Khanna’s masterclass performance in Chhaava might have come as a surprise for the younger generation, but for ‘the 90s audience, it wasn’t a shock at all. The actor made his acting debut in Bollywood with the film, Himalay Putra in 1997, but it was his role in Border that brought him immense fame and recognition. In the following years, Akshaye proved the mettle of his acting skills in a series of memorable films like Dil Chahta Hai, Humraaz, Hungama, Hulchul, Race, No Problem, Dahek, Taal, Ittefaq, Section 37, Deewangee, and Gandhi, My Father.
Apart from being an exceptional actor, Akshaye Khanna is renowned for living a low-key life. From not attending Bollywood’s glamourous parties to keeping a huge distance from gossip and controversies, he never craved unnatural attention. However, there are still some moments in his acting career that are quite interesting, and not everyone is aware of them. So, without further ado, let’s talk about them.
#1. Akshaye Khanna and Aishwarya Rai’s alleged romance: When Chhaava actor labelled Aish as the sexiest actress in the film industry
Akshaye Khanna and Aishwarya Rai worked together in the films, Aa Ab Laut Chalen and Taal. While filming Aa Ab Laut Chalen, Aishwarya and Akshaye reportedly came closer and enjoyed each other’s company. Soon, the reports of their affair started doing rounds in the film industry. There were speculations that Aishwarya and Akshaye dated for almost a year, but everything ended when the former signed Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
On the sets of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Aishwarya Rai came close to Salman Khan, and the rest is history. After so many years, in 2017, Akshaye Khanna appeared on Karan Johar’s show, Koffee With Karan and the actor was asked, “Who is the sexiest actress in the industry?” In response to this question, Akshaye took the name of his alleged ex-girlfriend, Aishwarya Rai.
#2. Akshaye Khanna was also romantically linked with Shriya Saran, Urvashi Sharma, and Riya Sen
At the age of 50, Akshaye Khanna is still unmarried and is in absolute peace. However, he has been linked with so many stunning actresses in his career. Unfortunately, none of his alleged relationships didn’t materialise into something serious. The actor was linked with his film, Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai co-star, Shriya Saran. If the reports are to be believed, it was a love-at-first-sight moment for Akshaye, but they never responded to their dating rumours.
Later in life, he was linked with Urvashi Sharma when the two worked on the film, Naqab. However, it didn’t last long, and the two were soon spotted with their alleged new partners. According to media reports, Akshaye Khanna and Riya Sen were reportedly quite serious about each other. The two came close after working on the film, Love You Hamesha. Unfortunately, Riya reportedly got close to John Abraham, which ended her alleged relationship with Akshaye.
#3. Akshaye Khanna was almost getting married to Karisma Kapoor: Here’s the reason why it didn’t happen
Akshaye Khanna and Karisma Kapoor were on the verge of getting married, and even her father, Randhir Kapoor, had approved of their relationship. Although the exact moment when Akshaye and Karisma fell in love isn’t known, but some reports stated that after Karisma broke up with Ajay Devgn, she found solace in the arms of Akshaye Khanna. Randhir Kapoor had even sent the marriage proposal to Akshaye’s father, Vinod Khanna, and things were almost done. However, it was Karisma’s mother, Babita Kapoor, who intervened and stopped the marriage from happening. As per rumours, Babita’s mother wasn’t impressed with Akshaye’s career graph because Karisma was at the peak of her career at that time.
#4. Akshaye Khanna accidentally bullied Karan Johar as a child
When Akshaye Khanna appeared on Koffee With Karan, Karan Johar reminded him of the incident when the actor scared him during his childhood. According to Karan, he and Akshaye were neighbours, and both of them were fond of badminton. However, while Karan was just a teenager, Akshaye was a star badminton player back then. As a result, whenever Akshaye came to the court, he simply told all the kids to go off the court. The producer admitted that he was so scared of him then. He said:
“I know, you’ve been very rude to me as a child. You don’t remember. We’ve grown up in the same neighbourhood. We used to be neighbours, we were south Bombay boys. And I used to play badminton, very badly, of course. And Akshaye was a great badminton player, and he used to just come and say, ‘You, you, off the court’. And we were these little surviving badminton players, we used to just walk away, and he was this star badminton player, and we used to be thrown off the court. I swear I’m not. I remember, I was scarred.”
#5. Akshaye Khanna revealed how Aamir Khan snatched Taare Zameen Par from him
Once, in an old interview with Mid-Day, Akshaye Khanna revealed that he was Amol Gupte’s first choice for Taare Zameen Par and not Aamir Khan. The actor further shared that because Amol Gupte didn’t know him, he went to Aamir to seek help in connecting him with me. Unfortunately, Aamir liked the film so much that he didn’t allow Amol to go to Akshaye, so he ended up doing the film himself. The actor recalled the incident and admitted that he held no grudges, and even lauded Aamir’s work in the film. He said:
“He (Amol Gupte) approached Aamir because he was a friend of Aamir’s and said, ‘You know I really want to narrate this story to Akshaye, and I don’t know him, you just worked with him in Dil Chahata Hai, so can you call him and tell him I want to narrate him a script.’ He liked it so much that he ended up doing it. One day, I was shooting at one of these studios, I don’t remember, Mehboob, I think it was. And Aamir was also shooting for a film, so I just went to his van to say ‘hi,’ and then he was like, ‘Oh, you know what, this happened, and I didn’t allow him to come to you, and I did the film myself.’ I said, okay, no problem.”
What are your thoughts on these interesting anecdotes about Akshaye Khanna’s life and career? Let us know.
Also Read:
