If you picked up your phone, fired Instagram, tapped on the search bar and searched for @mrkhanna, scrolled a few grids down, you’ll end up at a picture from Rahul Khanna’s childhood. A toddler with curious obsidian eyes.
The child wears a t-shirt and dungarees. The wavy locks fall over the big ears. This child is the father of the man Rahul Khanna is today. This child is the man he is today.
On Rahul: Kurta, churidaar, shawl, all by Tarun Tahiliani; Sunglasses by Alexander McQueen (from Drishti Boutique); Sandals by DmodotPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
Put your phone down now. For this man believes in cell phone etiquette. “Everything I need to know about a person, I can tell by the way they use their cell phone. Also, any kind of posturing or asserting dominance to appear more masculine puts me off.”
“There used to be much more emphasis on manners and etiquette. Men today who are making an effort to be more gentlemanly in the classic sense are the ones that are really interesting in this environment.”
On Rahul: Men's wrapskirt and boots by Terry Singh NYCPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
On Rahul: Kurta, churidaar, shawl, all by Tarun TahilianiPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
Over the past few years, Khanna has settled into a pantheon of gentlemandom that we frequently access and worship on our personal handheld screens. Generations swoon at his thirst traps—though thirst trap isn’t a word he would welcome, I have a feeling. Quietlys and considereds and deeplys may flow unceasing in the pungent effluvia that artificial intelligence puts out in the world every day. But when he says it, considered becomes a soft dab of neroli released gently into the atmosphere.
“Good manners. Cleanliness. Good humour.”
On Rahul: Suit by Boglioli; Shoes by COSPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
When Rahul Khanna tells you three things that maketh a man, they’re not borrowed from the constantly ongoing online information churn. They come from someone who’s lived the full breadth of their import.
“I think there’s so much stimulus today, with the way technology is moving, the way the world is moving, and the amount of information. There’s so much energy we have given to other things that along the way, we forget to put our energy into just being respectful, thoughtful and intentional.”
On Rahul: Three-piece suit by Tom Ford; Shoes by Shutiq; Sunglasses by Tom Ford (from Drishti Boutique)Photo by Pulkit Mishra
When you see Khanna pose and strut and do his stuff, it really comes to light. Son to one of the industry’s sexiest and most desirable male actors, the late Vinod Khanna, and brother to an actor who’s having a staggering second coming as an icon of preternatural vengeance, Akshaye Khanna, he remembers finding inspiration for his maleness in an altogether different place.
“They came a lot from my mother’s family. My parents separated very early on, when we were very young. So, in that way, we weren’t around our dad as much as normal children would be around a parent. They’d be my maternal grandfather, uncles and aunts in that family who were very masculine, very gentlemanly, very strong but also very thoughtful. As a child, you just absorb from wherever you have access to.”
On Rahul: Sherwani, kurta, trousers, all by Tarun Tahiliani; Leather sandals by dmodotPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
And books. Patricia Highsmith is among his favourites and, indeed, if one were to come up with just the right cross between Dickie Greenleaf and Tom Ripley, you might end up with Rahul Khanna.
“I read a lot of fiction—I don’t like nonfiction. I like being outside of reality.”
That’s actually true. Khanna has a dreamy look in his eyes—the look of a guy who has remained aloof from the corruption of what we know as worldly wisdom. His brows seldom purse. In his public persona, Khanna seems gleefully indifferent to the trend cycle. He is a classic guy, a classics guy—the man can bring the chic gentleman energy to a wraparound faster than most of us can say ‘wraparound’. Suits are his habitat. He likes rules, sticking to things. Discipline.
“It’s not that I am indifferent to it. I do love seeing what people are doing. I love being inspired by new design, new culture. But ultimately, I selfishly want to dress in a way that’s flattering to me. And over the years, I’ve figured out that what’s really flattering to me and what I feel best in is more classic menswear.”
On Rahul: Kurta, churidaar, shawl, all by Tarun Tahiliani; Sunglasses by Alexander McQueen (from Drishti Boutique); Sandals by DmodotPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
Does he take advice?
“All the time, yeah!”
What kind?
“Details, fits, like how should a jacket fit, how should pants fit, what is the correct cuff width to have on a trouser, what is the correct length of a trouser on a particular outfit, the correct shade of white in a shirt for something. So, I like lots of feedback and my team also knows that I like asking a lot.”
On Rahul: Three-piece suit by Tom Ford; Shoes by Shutiq; Sunglasses by Tom Ford (from Drishti Boutique)Photo by Pulkit Mishra
Of course, Mr Khanna listens. He pays attention.
In front of the camera, he becomes a pupil devoted to the directorial voice. He will dig in his heel and raise the toes rakishly, insert his fingers ever so slightly in his side pockets and turn his elbows front-on, appear to survey a barbet on a ledge without appearing affected in the slightest. On the smallest cue.
Of course, the trade of posing in good clothes is something he’s perfected as an occupational hazard over the years. The point is… it all still looks like a novelty. He’s as fresh as they come, unimpressioned by external forces. The only influences are the ideas that his immediate surroundings might give him.
“Look at the exquisite environment we’re shooting in today. The architecture, the wardrobe. It has an effect on you. Sure, a little bit of yourself spills out of you when you’re performing anything, but you also have to connect to something in the piece you’re doing.”
On Rahul: Wrap shirt and trousers by Tarun Tahiliani; shoes by CanaliPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
On Rahul: Jacket and jumper, both by Tod's; Sunglasses by KuboraumPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
Sure, the environment speaks to him. And he answers. Toss an apple in his general direction and he’ll happily throw an arm out and catch it. Hook a robe on his finger and he’ll wave it around without a care in the world. Put him on a step and he’ll prance across the porch like a veteran of the stage who’s just uncovered his boyhood in the yard behind the theatre.
“But if you’re doing something that’s completely devoid of creativity, then, yeah, make something up in your head. Create a character for yourself that only you know about.”
On Rahul: Wrap shirt and trousers by Tarun Tahiliani; shoes by CanaliPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
As much as he likes embracing a new character every now and then—much like Tom Ripley—he also has his own truths to abide by—much like Dickie Greenleaf. On that subject, it’s rather new to hear Khanna swat aside comfort in personal style as overrated. It’s a tired trope and this man doesn’t subscribe to its easy availability.
“I don’t need to be comfortable. I need to be comfortable in the way I feel—but I don’t need to be physically comfortable. I actually like feeling a little rigid. Like, I also find people who are too comfortable a little sloppy. I feel it’s good manners to be slightly uncomfortable. You can’t just be too comfortable. It’s all about respect.”
That’s Mr Khanna. Steadfast in upholding an etiquette system you just drop the wayside in the name of comfort and nonchalance these days. Perhaps that’s the consideration that he spoke of earlier. And if you’re not patient or careful enough to read this deeply, you might read it as snobbish.
On Rahul: Three-piece suit by Tom Ford; Sunglasses by Tom Ford (from Drishti Boutique)
On Rahul: Pinstripe suit by Rkivecity; Tank vest by COS; Shoes by Tod'sPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
“A lot of people do tend to think that. It’s mostly because I’m very reserved and very quiet. If you don’t talk a lot, people tend to make up a narrative about what you may be thinking. I am at times snobby but mostly I’m not. It’s a public perception because I’m not that outgoing and I do like my personal space.”
Of course it wasn’t always that way. When he was growing up, he was always considered—believe it or not—a boring dresser.
“Because I would only wear blue-and-white pinstripe shirts and khaki pants. To me, that was very comforting to the eye. And when, I think the more you're exposed, living in different countries and environments, and see the way people put themselves together in various parts of the world, you start refining your eye and picking up the things you like.”
Khanna admits to carrying out various experiments with the punk that didn’t ultimately feel great. Bell-bottoms? Funky hair? “Once I had a fake leather shirt, which I thought was very cool. But, looking back on it, no, it wasn’t.”
On Rahul: Tank vest by COSPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
“What I like today may not be the same as what I like tomorrow. I’m also quite fickle in my choices—like colours I like or food I like. Today, I may have one favourite thing but tomorrow it could be something completely different. In the same way, when people ask me, ‘What kind of actor are you?’—I’m the kind of actor that does what comes my way.”
Is it not the… ‘boutique Bollywood’ kind—the description he’s left of himself on his Instagram bio? “People keep asking me, ‘What does it mean?’ I’m like, it means whatever you want it to mean… We actors don’t have that kind of control over what we get—we’re very much at the mercy of what’s offered to us.”
On Rahul: Pinstripe suit by Rkivecity; Tank vest by COS; Shoes by Tod's
Khanna, who studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York, hasn’t had the typical Bollywood career. After bagging a best debut award for 1947 Earth (1998), he did films such as Bollywood/Hollywood (2003), Elaan (2005) and Wake Up Sid (2009). The former VJ has mostly stayed away from the screen in the past couple of decades, channelling his wit and panache in writing instead.
But he remains a tabula rasa for each character that he may need to summon for each barren land he encounters. And that submission to floating clarity over unsteady certainty, ladies and gentlemen, might be the lode star that brought him his most famous part yet—the ideal gentleman, the... singular man.
On Rahul: Kurta, churidaar, shawl, all by Tarun TahilianiPhoto by Pulkit Mishra
Credits
Fashion & Creative Direction: Vijendra Bhardwaj
Words: Prannay Pathak
Photographs: Pulkit Mishra
Contributing Stylist: Mehak Khanna
Grooming: Walter Dorairaj
Fashion Team: Mamali Mishra
Location Partner: Anvaya, Amaara Farms
Artist Reputation Management: C&C Talent
Bookings Editor: Varun Shah
Production: VG Creatives
