Rahul Khanna (born 20 June 1972) is an Indian actor, VJ and writer who works in

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

. He is the older son of actor turned politician

Vinod Khanna Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in Hindi films; while also being a notable spiritual seeker. In Bollywood, he was the recipient of two Filmfare awa ...

and the older brother of

Akshaye Khanna Akshaye Khanna (born 28 March 1975) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the son of actor Vinod Khanna. He has won numerous awards in his career including two Filmfare Awards, three Screen Awards and two IIFA Awards in varied ac ...

Early life and background

Khanna was born and raised in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

. His father was a Bollywood star & a politician,

, his mother was ex-model Gitanjali Taleyar Khanna, and his younger brother is Bollywood actor,

. Khanna studied at the

Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, ...

and the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Film

He made his feature film debut in

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth'' (1998), and ''Water'' (2005). ''Earth'' was submitted by India as its official ...

's ''

1947 Earth ''Earth'' ( hi, पृथ्वी; released in India as ''1947: Earth'') is a 1999 Indo-Canadian period romance drama film directed by Deepa Mehta. It is based upon Bapsi Sidhwa's novel, '' Cracking India'' (1991, US; 1992, India; originally p ...

'' (1999), alongside

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi films. Through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian ci ...

. His performance earned him several awards including the

Filmfare Best Male Debut Award The Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films to recognise a performance by a male actor in a debut role. List of winners 1980s *1989 Aamir Khan – ''Qayamat Se Qayamat ...

. He has since appeared in Mehta's ''

Bollywood/Hollywood ''Bollywood/Hollywood'' is a 2002 Canadian romantic comedy drama film directed by Deepa Mehta and starring Rahul Khanna and Lisa Ray. The film was lighthearted, humorous, and family-oriented. The film pokes fun at traditional Indian stereotypes ...

'' (2003) and ''

Wake up Sid ''Wake Up Sid'' is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Ayan Mukerji and produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar under Dharma Productions, with UTV Motion Pictures as distributor and visua ...

'' starring

Ranbir Kapoor Ranbir Kapoor (; born 28 September 1982) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi-language films. He is one of the highest-paid actors of Hindi cinema and has featured in ''Forbes India''s Celebrity 100 list since 2012. Kapoor is the re ...

and

Konkana Sen Sharma Konkona Sen Sharma (born 3 December 1979) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works primarily in Hindi and Bengali films. She has received two National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards. The daughter of filmmakeractress Aparna Sen, Sen S ...

. Rahul's mainstream

films include '' Elaan'' and ''

Raqeeb ''Raqeeb'' is a 2007 Indian romantic thriller film directed by Anurag Singh, and produced by Raj Kanwar. The film stars Sharman Joshi, Jimmy Sheirgill, Rahul Khanna, Tanushree Dutta. It released on 18 May 2007. It is an unofficial remake o ...

'' and his international credits include '' The Emperor's Club'' with

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards. In addition, he has received nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five ...

Television

MTV Asia MTV was a pan-Asian music pay-television channel which launched on 3 May 1995 as a standalone pay television channel. It was owned by Paramount Networks EMEAA. History MTV Asia was officially launched on 3 May 1995 as a 24-hour English-languag ...

'', VJ, 1994–1998 ''Asian Variety Show'', Host, ''AVS TV Network'', North America, 1999–2001 ''Discovery Week'', Host,

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

, 2006 Khanna has also hosted numerous events like the IIFA Awards, the Miss India pageant, the

Screen Awards The Screen Awards is an annual awards ceremony held in India honouring professional excellence in Bollywood. The nomination and award selection is done by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry. The awards were introduced by t ...

, the

Stardust (magazine) ''Stardust'' is an Indian monthly Bollywood news and gossip magazine published in English and Hindi. It also sponsored the Stardust Awards. In 2016, Sumita Chakraborty was appointed as its editor. History The magazine is published by Mumb ...

Awards, the Miss India Worldwide pageant,

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...

's Fashion for Relief show at Mumbai Fashion Week, the GQ (India) Men of the Year Awards 2009 & 2010, Teacher's Achievement Awards 2008 & 2010, The

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common p ...

2011, The

Hello (magazine) ''Hello!'' is a royalist weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news and human-interest stories, first published in the United Kingdom on May 21, 1988. It is the United Kingdom local edition of '' ¡Hola!'', the Spanish weekly magazine. ...

Hall of Fame Awards 2011 and The

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award The EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards previously Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is an award sponsored by Ernst & Young in recognition of entrepreneurship. Founded in 1986 in Milwaukee as a single award, as of 2016 twenty-five pro ...

s 2012, to name just a few.

Commercials and endorsements

Khanna has been associated with several brands including

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Lay's Lay's is a brand of potato chips, as well as the name of the company that founded the chip brand in the United States. The brand is also referred to as Frito-Lay because both Lay's and Fritos are brands sold by the Frito-Lay company, which ha ...

Chips,

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi wa ...

, DTC ( Diamond Trading Company/

De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and ...

group),

Trent (Westside) Trent Limited (portmanteau of Tata Retail Enterprise) is an Indian retail company, which is part of Tata Group and based out of Mumbai. Started in 1998, Trent operates Westside, a retail fashion chain, and Landmark, a bookstore chain with bric ...

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...

Jaypee Group Jaiprakash Associates Limited, commonly known as Jaypee Group, is an Indian conglomerate company based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It has business interests in engineering, construction, power, cement, real estate, hospitality, IT, spor ...

's Jaypee Greens,

Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Sc ...

Blue Label,

Kiehl's Kiehl's LLC is an American cosmetics brand retailer that specializes in skin, hair, and body care products. It started as a single pharmacy in Manhattan at Third Avenue and East 13th Street in 1851. Kiehl's was purchased by the L'Oréal Group in ...

, Maggi and

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. ...

. Khanna has appeared in a

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, a ...

India campaign to protect elephants and birds.

Writing

Khanna has a signature humorous writing style. Apart from writing for his ow
blog
his pieces and essays have been published in several leading newspapers, magazines and websites including

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the ...

India,

Vogue India ''Vogue India'' is the Indian edition of the monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine ''Vogue''. It is the 17th international edition of ''Vogue'' and the first edition in South Asia. ''Vogue India'' is published by Condé Nast India Pvt. Ltd., a ...

Cosmopolitan (magazine) ''Cosmopolitan'' is an American monthly fashion and entertainment magazine for women, first published based in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, since 1965, has become a wo ...

India,

Elle (India) ''Elle'' is the Indian edition of the worldwide lifestyle magazine of French origin called ''Elle''. History and profile The first issue of the Indian edition of ''Elle'' was the December 1996 issue. The magazine is published by Ogaan Publicati ...

, GQ India,

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

India,

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest s ...

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by K. N. Guruswamy, a liquor businessman from Ballari and was launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Print ...

and

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

India.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

Rahul Khanna - Official Site
*
Rahul Khanna's Twitter pageRahul Khanna Videos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khanna, Rahul Khanna Rahul Indian male voice actors 1972 births Male actors from Mumbai Living people Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni School of Visual Arts alumni Indian VJs (media personalities) Male actors in Hindi cinema Filmfare Awards winners