Rahul Khanna

Rahul Khanna grew up in Mumbai, India. The elder son of the matinee idol of the 70s and the 80s, Vinod Khanna, he always was exposed to the glitter of Bollywood. To start a career, as a professional Indian film actor and being the son of his illustrious father, was an easy and available option but Rahul chose to make his own way. He did so by moving to New York to study acting at the famed "Lee Strasberg" Theatre Institute, and film and video at The School of Visual Arts.

Whilst Rahul was still in New York, he was hired as the first VJ for MTV Asia's relaunch following their much publicised split from the Star TV Network. He spent the next four years of his life with the channel, based mostly in Singapore, hosting a variety of shows that aired all over Southeast Asia, The Indian subcontinent and parts of the Middle East. His immense popularity all over the region, especially with the youth, was established by the simple reason of the accentuation of the friendly persona factor - the youth were able to see in him a as friend, who was at least there for quite number of hours every day, to talk to them, and play their favourite tracks. Also as Rahul wants to repeatedly say, "It was a great experience to be with MTV. I learnt a lot from the highly professional and creative environment I was working in, and about the entertainment industry from the business point of view, planning and marketing sides, the importance of which I was never previously aware of".

It was on MTV that Deepa Mehta (the acclaimed Indian Director based in Canada) saw Rahul and cast him in the romantic lead in "1947" ("Earth" as it is called outside of the Indian subcontinent). "1947" ("Earth") was the second installment of Deepa Mehta's Indian trilogy (The first of the trilogy was "Fire", the controversial and award winning film). As Rahul puts it across in his own words,I had seen "Fire" at the Singapore Film Festival and loved it. Soon afterwards, Deepa was casting for "1947" ("Earth"), and her casting director, Uma DaCunha, recommended me for the part I eventually played. Deepa had already seen me on MTV, so she spoke to me on the phone and sent me the script. We talked some more and then I flew down to Mumbai from Singapore to meet her and she offered me the part".

The experience of shooting for the film was a wonderful experience for Rahul. He was nurtured, and guided, along the way by his director, and by senior actors like Aamir Khan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Nandita Das and others. The shoot also acted a path of discovery about what his ancestors (Rahul hails from Punjab from his father's side) must have experienced through the ordeal of the partition of India. "1947" ("Earth") was premiered as a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival where it received a ten-minute standing ovation. Rahul was also named as one of the best new talents, by the critics of the prominent local newspaper, The Toronto Star. Rahul is a fair representative of the term, world traveler. He has often described himself as a bit of a gypsy. According to him, "I love moving around. However, India always will be home. That's where my family is" He goes on, "There have been plenty of offers to enact in Hindi films. While I have nothing but the highest of respect for the Indian film industry, and am awestruck of the actors, including my father and brother, who pull off dancing, action, drama and comedy so effortlessly, I fear that I am not well equipped enough to pull it off. Also, I feel that I am very lucky that I have the opportunity to live abroad and I'd be a fool not to take advantage of it. Anyway, the world has become such a small place that you're always only a phone call, e-mail or airplane ride away from anywhere else".

Rahul Khanna currently lives in New York where after his acclaimed film debut, he recently made his theatrical debut with the American premiere of Ayub Khan's multi-cultural play, "East is East" (Director: Scott Elliott)

Date of Birth : 20 June 1972
Place of Birth : Bombay, India

Filmography as Artiste

As Artiste
Love Aaj Kal (2009)
Dil Kabaddi (2008)
Tahaan (2008)
Raqeeb (2007)
Elaan (2005)
Bollywood Hollywood (2003)
1947 Earth (1999)