Vinod Khanna hired director for son Akshaye Khanna’s debut film, director hadn’t even seen the star kid before saying yes: ‘His problem was Hindi’

Pankaj Parashar said that he initially got a call from Vinod Khanna saying that he was looking for directors to launch his son. Pankaj then recalled the conditions that he was given to make this film and said, “He said obviously, this will be a love story. There are 2-3 conditions. Anu Malik will give the music and Honey Irani will write. I said fantastic. As I was about to leave, I asked ‘Sir can I see him?'” as Pankaj had not even met Akshaye in person until that point.

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Pankaj said that since Akshaye wasn’t very strong with his language, he got a diction teacher so he could learn. “I told Akshaye that you will have to learn. So he learnt. He got a diction teacher and he was a natural. He was very friendly, very very funny.” he shared. When asked if Vinod interfered in his process, Pankaj said that the veteran actor would give suggestions but never imposed his thoughts. “He wasn’t interfering but he would give suggestions and if Honey and me didn’t agree with those suggestions, he would concede. But he was always there for music sittings or anything else,” he said.

Despite being a flop at the box office, Himalay Putra set up Akshaye Khanna for a film career. Pankaj said that even tough the film didn’t work, Akshaye signed six movies during premiere night.