What stayed with Mohan Kapur after watching Dhurandhar was not the applause surrounding it, but his own disbelief at that applause. The actor has now spoken candidly about why the film never fully landed for him, even as he singled out Akshaye Khanna’s performance for admiration and separated the actor’s work from the film’s larger hype.
Speaking during an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Mohan made it clear that Akshaye’s talent has never been in question for him. “In my opinion, Akshaye Khanna has been a great actor from the beginning. I don’t know him personally, but people who do, say he’s a bit moody. Maybe he is, maybe he didn’t like the scripts that were offered to him. Or perhaps he was taking a break and wanted to choose his films carefully. Or maybe it was just destiny, as they say, it’s all about the stars; you get opportunities when they’re written for you. But one thing is certain: he has always been a great actor.”
Mohan Kapur On Why Dhurandhar Did Not Fully Work For Him
Mohan said he watched Dhurandhar alone in a theatre shortly before the second part came out, and came away puzzled by the scale of the praise it had received. “I watched the film alone in a theater two weeks before the second part came out. It was the first time I had ever watched a film alone, and when I left the theater, I honestly couldn’t understand why everyone was praising it so much. I just didn’t get it,” he said.
He was careful to distinguish that reaction from a dismissal of the film’s craft. Mohan called the writing intelligent and the storytelling sharp, while arguing that the premise itself did not hold up for him. “Dhurandhar is a phenomenal film. It’s very intelligent storytelling, which is why it has received both criticism and applause. It’s cleverly written. Now, has the film claimed to be the truth? No. It’s a story. They’ve taken real instances and woven a very clever plot around them to make you think, ‘Oh my God!’ But it’s not real. From the very first frame, the moment you see R Madhavan, you know the premise is wrong because the character they are depicting or implying was never there.”
He also used the conversation to underline how performers can elevate even the most debated films, and brought up Ranveer Singh as another actor he deeply admires. “Ranveer Singh is a true chameleon, there is no actor like him in this country. When he did Band Baaja Baaraat, what a performance! I remember watching it and thinking, ‘This guy is amazing,’ but I also thought he might only be able to do this one kind of role. Imagine me, an actor myself, being so wrong! I said it because he was so natural, and since then, he has done one remarkable performance after another, from Padmaavat to Gully Boy. He just transforms into the character every single time.”
That distinction between a film’s impact and an actor’s impact is also what keeps the spotlight firmly on Akshaye right now, especially as his recent choices have pushed him back into the centre of major Hindi film conversations.
Akshaye Khanna’s Recent And Upcoming Work
Akshaye Khanna’s recent run has had a quiet solidity to it, the kind built on presence rather than volume. In Drishyam 2 in 2022, he brought measured intensity to IG Tarun Ahlawat, before returning in 2025 with Chhaava, where he played Aurangzeb. The same year also saw him feature in Dhurandhar as Rehman Dakait, a performance that has now become central to Mohan Kapur’s remarks and to the broader discussion around the film.
What makes this phase particularly interesting is that Akshaye is not disappearing after one talked-about role. His confirmed 2026 slate includes Border 2 and Ikka, two projects that signal a continuation of this renewed momentum. Taken together, the recent releases and the next set of titles point to an actor who remains selective, but whose choices are once again placing him in some of the biggest conversations around Hindi cinema.
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