Akshaye Khanna's Rehman Dakait may have become one of the most talked-about parts of Dhurandhar, but the actor was initially not convinced about playing the film's villain. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra has now revealed that Akshaye's first reaction to the role was to question why he should take it up.
In a recent episode of Shekhar Suman's show Shekhar Tonite, Mukesh recalled his conversation with Akshaye before the actor agreed to be part of Aditya Dhar's two-part film.
He said, “When I told the story to Akshaye bhai, he said, ‘Paagal hogaya hai kya tu? Villain kyu karunga mai? (Are you mad? Why would I play the villain?). After listening to the story for five minutes, he said, 'Fantastic', and said yes the same day.”
According to Mukesh Chhabra, Akshaye did not take long to change his mind once he heard the story. The casting director said he was confident that the actor would be able to bring something special to the character. “I knew he would kill it. Akshaye added his own touch to Aditya Dhar's writing. He got the right opportunity, the right script, at the right time,” he said.
Mukesh Chhabra also disclosed that Akshaye was not the first actor approached for the part. He said two or three big stars had rejected the role before Akshaye came on board.
“I can tell this now that 2-3 very big stars had said no for this role. They thought that it's an ensemble cast and the director hasn't worked since 7 years. The last film was Uri. They do a lot of calculations. When an artiste starts thinking with his mind instead of heart, then that's a problem,” he said.
Dhurandhar, directed by Aditya Dhar, featured Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Rakesh Bedi and Sara Arjun. The first part arrived in theatres in December 2025, followed by the second instalment in March 2026.
Coming back to Akshaye Khanna, he was last seen in the Netflix original Ikka, which also featured Sunny Deol, Dia Mirza, Tillotama Shome and Sanjeeda Shaikh.
The actor will next be seen as Shukracharya in Mahakali, a dark mythological action-fantasy film set in the Prasanth Varma Cinematic Universe. The film is scheduled to release on January 8 next year.
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