‘Akshaye Khanna used to throw things and wasn’t nice on set’: Farah Khan reveals why she once avoided working with the Dhurandhar actor

Actor Akshaye Khanna is currently receiving widespread praise for his performance and swag in the 2025 blockbuster Dhurandhar. The film’s success has once again brought the actor into the spotlight, with fans celebrating his powerful screen presence. As excitement grows around the sequel, Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge, which is scheduled to release in theatres on March 19, many viewers are also wondering whether Akshaye will reprise his role in the upcoming film.

Amid the buzz, filmmaker and choreographer Farah Khan recently shared an interesting anecdote from the early days of her career. She revealed that there was a time when she deliberately avoided working with Akshaye because of his behaviour on film sets during the 1990s.

Farah Khan recalls difficult early experiences with Akshaye Khanna

Speaking about her past experiences, Farah Khan said that she had worked with Akshaye in a few projects during the 1990s, but those interactions left her quite uncomfortable. Looking back, she said that the actor was very different at the time. According to Farah, Akshaye was quite introverted but also difficult to deal with on set. She explained that whenever she heard that he was part of a film project, she would often say she was unavailable for the work.



Talking on Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast, which was posted on his YouTube channel, Farah said, "In the ’90s, I did a couple of movies with Akshaye, and after that I was traumatised. Because he used to be a different person. Yes, introverted, but not a nice person on set. Whenever I heard that Akshaye Khanna was in a film, I used to say, ‘I don’t have the dates’. I think at that time he himself had said that he was losing his hair. He was constantly irritable. He used to throw things and say, ‘What kind of dialogue is this?’ He used to be that kind of person."

A change during Dil Chahta Hai

However, Farah also admitted that her opinion of Akshaye eventually changed. She said the turning point came when she worked on the film Dil Chahta Hai, which marked the directorial debut of her cousin Farhan Akhtar.

According to Farah, she could not refuse the project because of her close connection to Farhan. But when she worked with Akshaye on the film, she noticed a huge difference in his personality. She said that by then, the actor seemed much calmer and more relaxed. Farah also mentioned that Akshaye had become more comfortable with his appearance and no longer appeared as tense as before.

The filmmaker even praised his dancing abilities, pointing out his energetic performance in the song Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe, where he shared the screen with Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan.

Farah congratulates Akshaye after Dhurandhar

Today, Farah says she shares a warm relationship with Akshaye. After watching his performance in Dhurandhar, she reached out to congratulate him for his work. She revealed that she called the actor soon after seeing the film and later even visited his house in Alibag. Speaking about him now, Farah said that one of the things she admires most about Akshaye is that, "he is not about the fluff, he is about the work. He enjoys acting."

Akshaye’s performance in Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar has received strong praise from audiences and critics alike. In the spy thriller, he played the menacing Pakistani gangster Rehman Dakait.