When Akshaye Khanna said he ‘loves’ Osho, admitted Vinod Khanna would never have returned if the commune hadn’t disbanded

Akshaye Khanna, in a earlier interview, opened up on his father Vinod Khanna leaving his family to join Osho's commune in the USA.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | March 28, 2025 09:30 AM IST

3 min read

When Akshaye Khanna opened up on Vinod Khanna leaving his family to join Osho's commune.

Bollywood actor Akshaye Khanna was just five years old when his father, Vinod Khanna, took sanyaas, leaving his thriving career and family in 1982 to become a disciple of spiritual leader Osho (Acharya Rajneesh). He left India to live at Osho’s colony in Oregon, United States. As a toddler, Akshaye couldn’t fully comprehend his father’s decision, but as he grew older and read about Osho himself, he gained a deeper understanding of his father’s mindset.

Speaking to Mid-Day about it some years ago, Akshaye had shared, “Osho had nothing to do with my thoughts about why my dad wasn’t there. That came much later. As one grows, maybe 15 or 16, you start learning, listening or reading about the person (Osho).”

“I can understand it now,” Akshaye admitted, reflecting on how his father didn’t just walk away from a thriving career and family but renounced his entire life to follow a new path. “To not only leave his family, but to take ‘sanyaas’ (renunciation). Sanyaas means giving up your life in totality — family is [only] a part of it. It’s a life-changing decision, which he felt that he needed to take at the time. As a five-year-old, it was impossible [for me] to understand it,” he said.

Accepting his father’s decision became easier for Akshaye once he understood that something profound must have shifted within him to make such a choice. “Something must have moved him so deeply inside, that he felt that that kind of decision was worth it for him. Especially, when you have everything in life. A very basic fault-line/earthquake has to occur within oneself to make that decision. But also stick by it,” he said.

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Akshaye revealed that Vinod returned to India only after Osho and his colony’s friction began with the US government. “I was given to believe that a lot of people like him got disillusioned with Osho eventually, which led to their return,” he said. He added that if the commune wouldn’t have been disbanded, he doubted his father would have ever returned. “The commune was disbanded, destroyed, and everybody had to find their own way. That’s when he came back. Otherwise I don’t think he would’ve ever come back,” he said.

Despite losing his father to Osho, Akshye didn’t harbour any bitterness towards Osho. “I’ve read a lot of Osho’s discourses and seen hundreds of thousands of videos, I love him,” he said.

After returning to India, Vinod Khanna attempted a fresh start in films with Mukul Anand’s Insaaf (1987). He continued his career in Bollywood until he passed away in 2017 after battling cancer.

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