Akshaye Khanna is first Indian actor after SRK to gross ₹2000 crore in a year; beats Prabhas, Allu Arjun, Ranbir Kapoor

Courtesy the double box office triumph of Chhaava and Dhurandhar, Akshaye Khanna has scaled a box office peak only the Khans have managed to before him.

He has been in the film industry for three decades, but to call 2025 the year of Akshaye Khanna would not be an exaggeration. The actor played the antagonist in two films, which ended up as the two highest-grossing Hindi films of the year. Apart from the critical acclaim that has come his way, Akshaye has also crossed a huge populist milestone, becoming the second Indian actor to gross ₹2000 crore at the box office in a single calendar year.

Akshaye Khanna played gangster Rehman Dakait in Dhurandhar.

Akshaye Khanna’s box office triumph

Akshaye first impressed as Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Laxman Utekar’s Chhaava, which starred Vicky Kaushal in the lead. The January 2025 release grossed ₹809 crore worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, a crown that it held for the better part of the year. Akshaye earned praise for his performance, but this wasn’t to be his best performance or biggest film of the year.

Akshaye Khanna starred in the two biggest Bollywood hits of 2025 - Chhaava and Dhurandhar.

In December, he starred as gangster Rehman Dakait in Aditya Dhar’s spy thriller Dhurandhar. Even as the film starred Ranveer Singh along with Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan, and Arjun Rampal, Akshaye walked away with the applause. The film, buoyed by word of mouth, ultimately became the most successful Hindi film domestically. So far, Dhurandhar has earned ₹1167 crore worldwide and is expected to add over ₹25 crore to that by the end of Saturday. This would mean that the two Akshaye Khanna-starrer films would have grossed ₹2001 crore in a single year.

Second only to the Khans

Shah Rukh Khan is the only other Indian actor whose films have grossed more than ₹2000 crore in one year, a feat he achieved in 2023. That year, Shah Rukh’s three releases - Pathaan, Jawan, and Dunki - collectively grossed ₹2685 crore at the global box office. Aamir Khan earned ₹2070 crore with Dangal but over two years and two separate release windows. The film initially earned ₹716 crore worldwide after its release in 2016. The following year, it released in China, where it added over $200 million ( ₹1300 crore), taking it past the ₹2000-crore mark.

Other actors, such as Prabhas and Allu Arjun, have come close to the mark when Baahubali 2 and Pushpa 2 crossed ₹1700 crore each at the box office. Ranbir Kapoor may have a chance to reach the mark with two mega releases this year in Ramayana and Love & War. But so far, the only non-Khan actor to reach the mark is Akshaye Khanna.