In the film industry, you never really know when that big break is going to come & knock on your door. Just one blockbuster can turn a person's life around, going from no work at all to being so busy they can barely see their families. Akshay Khanna is right now a pretty solid example of this whole roller coaster ride.
To be quite honest, in his latest film Dhurandhar, he just absolutely stole the show with his very stylish turn as the villain Rehman Dacoit - a performance that utterly dominated the screen, even pitted against a superstar of the likes of Ranveer Singh. Even after Dhurandhar finished in the cinema and moved over to OTT, social media was still just awash with praise for his work. The film itself has now raked in a massive 1400cr & many viewers are crediting Akshay with taking the lion's share of that success.
But what's the most interesting bit of all (in my opinion)? - Akshay Khanna has somehow managed to become like a magic charm for any movie he decides to join. Before Dhurandhar came along, he had Chhaava, which made a pretty neat 800cr. Before that, he was in Drishyam 2, which did a pretty tidy 350 cr. No matter what he touches seems to turn into box office gold. I myself was still getting midnight shows for Chhaava & Drishyam 2 a week into their release, the demand was just so high.
Even though all this new demand is ratcheting up the pressure already, Akshay isn't in any kind of mad rush. He's just as picky as ever about the kind of roles he decides to take on. In fact, his "no compromise" attitude is reportedly the reason he walked away from Drishyam 3. Now the producers are all lining up outside his door, but until he sees the perfect script, he won't even think about saying yes
The good news for fans of the South Indian film scene is that Akshay Khanna's next movie - Mahakali - is going to be a big Tollywood affair. In this one, he'll be playing a very powerful "Maharshi" role, a role being overseen by the very capable Prashanth Varma. The first look poster for the film has just dropped & he looks absolutely brilliant. Having Akshay on board is going to give Mahakali a huge leg up in the North Indian market, no doubt about that
The guys behind Mahakali were pretty lucky they were able to get him on board before Dhurandhar got a release. If they tried to sign him up today, his salary would probably be more than they were willing to pay. With three back to back blockbusters under his belt, now he's getting absolutely swamped with villain offers, but he's staying totally calm and waiting for a script that really speaks to him.