Premium

Akshaye Khanna is a ‘lovable villain like Shatrughan Sinha, says Rakesh Bedi: ‘More loved than the hero’

Rakesh Bedi shared details about the upcoming Dhurandhar 2 and revealed how his character will be even more evil than what audiences saw in the first part.

3 min readChennaiJan 3, 2026 04:38 PM IST

Akshaye Khanna in a still from Dhurandhar.

Rakesh Bedi, who plays the role of a sly Pakistani politician Jameel Jamali in Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, recently spoke about his experience of shooting the film with Akshaye Khanna, who has received a lot of appreciation for his role as Rehman Dakait. The veteran actor also shared details about the upcoming Dhurandhar sequel and revealed how his character will be even more evil than what audiences saw in the first part.

Speaking about Akshaye, Rakesh told Faridoon Shahryar, “I am of the nature that I speak to everyone on set and crack jokes with everyone. Akshaye, however, is different. He would sit in the corner quietly and read his books or would be looking into his phone. But whenever we sat together before the shot, we had very intellectual conversations. He asked me a lot about my theatre. I also asked him questions. So we had some good conversations, but when it comes to the scene, we rehearsed a lot.”

Sharing the reason behind Akshaye’s character going viral, he said, “His character has a flamboyance, which is increased by that song (FA9LA). This is a lethal combination, when a villain becomes lovable, then he becomes more loved than the hero. For example, Shatrughan Sinha, when he was at the peak of his career, his entry was marked by cheers and claps in theatres despite him playing a villain in every film. He was a lovable villain.”

ALSO READ: Dhurandhar is a ‘well-made film’, says Sudhir Mishra: ‘Aditya Dhar made the audience smell the place’

Talking about the growing craze for Dhurandhar 2 among fans, Rakesh said it is a result of the successful storytelling in the first part. “A woman told me that after watching Dhurandhar she wants to sleep and directly wake up on the day when Dharundhar 2 is releasing, this is the reaction of many people. We told an amazing story, but we did not tell its climax. Now everyone wants to know what happens next and how does it end. This has happened only because every scene of Dhurandhar is engaging, because the makers did not take a commercial formulas in the film.”

When asked to share details about Dhurandhar 2, he said, “It is not for me to reveal things about the film, but I can say that my character will be more ‘kamina (rascal)’ than what you have seen in the first part.” He added, “My character has placed his son-in-law on the top after getting Rehman Dakait killed. But what is my character’s next game? Because he has placed his son-in-law on the throne, but that doesn’t mean he will let his own throne go away.”

Dhurandhar sequel releases on March 19.

Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.