Excited about Race

In Gandhi, My Father, he struggled with the dilemmas of a son born to Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. Now Akshaye Khanna says he’s excited about Race, his first movie this year. Common to both characters that he has essayed is that they were alcoholics, but the similarity ends there. Rajeev Singh in Race is as unscrupulous as they can come.

While the dust settles over Race, Khanna is shooting in Bangkok for Neeraj Vora’s Shortcut, his second film for Anil Kapoor’s production house, missing out on all the buzz around the film—his fourth with Abbas Mustan. The movie, he says, was a breeze, courtesy his co-stars Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor, all, to quote him, “wonderful actors and about the same age too”. Close friends, almost like family, is how he describes his rapport with the director duo Abbas Mustan, whose working style he says has remained the same over the years. “They are just fine within their space.”

Race is his first film this year; he’s following it up with Priyadarshan’s next (Mere Baap Pehle Aap) and Shortcut, towards the end of the year.

Ironically, while his launch vehicle—Himalayaputra, which took about two years to complete—followed what is now increasingly recognised as the old-school format, Khanna, along with Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan, was part of Dil Chahta Hai, which signalled the beginning of a new template of filmmaking.

Helmed by the young director Farhan Akhtar, who, as Khanna puts it, changed not only the way Hindi cinema was looked at but also altered mindsets within the industry. “It gave my career, which had been languishing for few years before that, a new lease of life.” DCH changed the way the industry perceived him and brought the South Mumbai star greater acceptability. He’s still not part of the crowd—he drives a small electric car (Reva) and does not fancy being hounded by the media.

The present bull run in the film industry caused by the advent of corporate houses flush with funds has given him, like his contemporaries, reason to be optimistic about the future. “I’d like to be doing both—a variety of roles and earning very well. Fortunately, the gap (between the mainstream and interesting cinema and actors) is getting bridged. I am in a happy space with films that I enjoy doing.”

Down the years, the industry has changed, he says. He hasn’t. “Earlier there was a stigma attached to being an actor. When my father decided to become an actor, his father said, ‘Are you going to be a prostitute?’

“That has changed in the last decade. People from good families are now keen to be a part of it in different ways and that’s certainly a good thing.”

(Express India)

Did this reporter read my post?Heh.
Back to back interview in different media outlets. MBPA rising in stakes. I think Race is relly really working for him.