Akshaye Khanna, who unexpectedly encountered stardom with Dhurandhar, where he played a chillingly convincing villain, was hoping to showcase his versatility as an actor with a hero’s role in his next-released film, but finds that audiences will see him in back-to-back antagonist roles, as Siddharth Malhotra’s Ikka is gearing to hit the screens.
According to a reliable source, Akshaye had hoped that his Telugu debut Mahakali, in which he plays Asura Guru Shukracharya, the protagonist, would follow on Dhurandhar’s heels. The full-length role as a spiritual guru shows him in a very different light from the assassin in the Ranveer Singh-starrer.
However, Ikka which he had signed during his lean phase, was shot before Dhurandhar took Indian cinema by storm, and is due for release shortly. It is a courtroom drama featuring Sunny Deol as a lawyer fighting a high-profile case against a white-collar criminal played by Akshaye.
