Kamal Ghorui
Akshaye Khanna has been the talk of the town ever since the release of ‘Dhurandhar’ in December 2025. The film set the box office ringing and how and also became a rage on social media. While Akshaye also got a lot of critical acclaim and accolades for ‘Chhaava’, earlier in 2025, it was ‘Dhurandhar’ which got him trending on social media. People couldn’t stop gushing over his Rahman Dakait avatar and his dance in the entry song. While Akshaye has been on the top on the popularity chart at the moment, here’s recalling the time when many women (including some from the industry) had a crush on him. In an excerpt from the book ‘Kareena Kapoor: The Style Diary of a Bollywood Diva’ by Rochelle Pinto, Kareena once confessed just how starstruck she was by Akshaye Khanna. Back then, she was still a teenager, often accompanying her sister Karisma Kapoor to film sets and absorbing the world of cinema long before she entered it herself. Recalling those days, she wrote, “Because of our six-year age gap, I was still a child when Lolo joined the movies. But I’d accompany her to the sets as often as I could. Which basically meant as often as my mom would allow me! I couldn’t wait to get a chance to visit the set and watch all the drama and fun that went on behind the scenes. Lolo was the sexy new actress being romanced by all the hottest male stars of that time, always the centre of attention. We’d go absolutely crazy spotting all our favourite heroes.”
Among all those stars, one left a particularly strong impression on Kareena. She admitted candidly, “I had a huge crush on Akshaye Khanna at the time, and would literally blush from head to toe whenever he was around. I was so starry-eyed at that time, but the famous Kareena confidence gene didn’t stop me from telling anyone who’d listen that I was also going to be as famous an actress one day.”Kareena and Akshaye starred together in ‘Hulchul’ when she became an actress. For those not in the know, Akshaye was also rumoured to be dating Karisma. Infact, several reports suggested that they were also set to tie the knot but eventually it was Karisma’s mother Babita who did not approve of it that time. Reports suggested that while Karisma was at the peak of her career that time, Akshaye had some flops. Karisma’s mother reportedly felt that marriage when she was at the peak of stardom, would harm Karisma’s career. Thus, eventually, things did not work out as per reports.
