Mumbai: Akshaye Khanna returned to the silver screen after a brief hiatus and became an overnight sensation with his power-packed performance as Rehman Dakait in ‘Dhurandhar’.
In a recent conversation with YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia on his Podcast, filmmaker Farah Khan opened up about working with the ‘Dhurandhar’ actor ‘Tees Maar Khan’ and dealing with his irritable nature.
Speaking to Ranveer about Akshaye, Farah shared, “Yeah, he’s too good yaar. In the ’90s, I did a couple of movies with him, and after that I was traumatised. Because he used to be a different person. Introverted, but not a very nice person on set. Whenever I heard that Akshaye Khanna was in a film, I used to say, ‘I don’t have the dates.’ After that something happened. I think at that time, he’s also spoken about it, he was losing his hair at a very young age. He used to be constantly irritable. He used to throw things, script, and say, ‘Yeh kya dialogue hai?’ He used to be that type of person.”
Recalling their reunion in Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, she said, “Then, Dil Chahta Hai I didn’t have a choice, because Farhan (Akhtar) is my first cousin. Uski pehli picture thi. Akshaye Khanna had completely changed. He was very… I think he had reconciled with his hair, if you see in Dil Chahta Hai. Toh then he became very chill. Kyunki usse pehele aap paani daal do, baarish daal do… tu dekh har baarish ke gaane mein woh topi pehenta hai. Tu dekh le Taal mein dekh le, because of that I think.” Farah went on to explain, “But after Dil Chahta Hai, something changed. And he is a brilliant dancer, you see ‘Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe,’ he is dancing better than both Aamir (Khan) and Saif (Ali Khan) actually. He’s a very, very good dancer. I think after that something changed in him. And then he was lovely to work with.”
Talking about the rapport she shares with Akshaye today, Farah said, “He’s not a person that you can go and chill and hang with. But I call him up… as soon as I saw Dhurandhar, I called him, I was like ‘Akshu!’ I have gone to his Alibaug house. You know he’s also half Parsi, like me. Rahul (Khanna) is a very very dear friend of mine, woh humaare games group ka part hai. So he’s that type. And what I like about him (Akshaye) is that he’s not about the fluff, he’s about the work. What he enjoys is being on set and doing acting. Acting! Acting karo. Usko acting mein maza aata hai.”
Referring to Akshaye’s iconic dialogue from ‘Tees Maar Khan’, she said, “Yeh Oscar type aise hi hote hain.”
On the work front, Akshaye is expected to return to theatres next week with the sequel of ‘Dhurandhar’.
