Exclusive: Ikka director decodes Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna's acting process on set
Director Sidharth P Malhotra, in an exclusive interview with India Today, opened up about directing Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna in Ikka. He said their contrasting methods, along with his nightly edit screenings, built trust on set.
Bringing together actors Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna after years is enough to spark curiosity. Add to that, Sunny returning to the courtroom space decades after Damini (1993), and Ikka (2026) instantly became one of Netflix’s most anticipated Hindi films. But for director Siddharth P Malhotra, assembling this star-studded cast wasn’t the difficult part, he told India Today in an exclusive conversation.
Malhotra opened up about directing industry veterans, why he prefers working with actors from an older generation and the unusual filmmaking technique he adopted on the sets of Ikka. He revealed why he believes filmmakers should stop obsessing over the OTT-versus-theatrical debate.
Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna reunion
Casting actors like Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Dia Mirza, and Tillotama Shome may sound like an uphill task, but Malhotra says the process was surprisingly effortless.
“Actually, the cast was the easiest part. Whoever I approached for this film said yes on the first go. Saying it was difficult would actually be a lie,” he said. According to the director, the screenplay did most of the convincing. “It’s the power of the script. The script was so good. Luckily, they had seen Maharaj. They had seen my work before. They’ve known me because of my father, my grandfather and my work. So there was already trust. They trusted me as a human being and as a filmmaker, and they loved the script. So, everyone came on board immediately,” he explained.
The reunion of Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna naturally comes with expectations. But Malhotra says working with actors who have decades of experience is less about managing egos and more about mutual respect.
“The one thing nobody is prepared for is that every actor comes with their own personality and their own life. That’s not just Sunny Deol or Akshaye Khanna. That’s everybody who walks onto a set,” he said, adding that he sees virtually no downside to working with veterans. “There are no other cons. I would only work with actors from that generation. I’ve worked with Rani, Kajol and Kareena—they’re the best people to work with,” he added.
Why working with senior actors is efficient
Malhotra doesn’t hide his admiration for the professionalism of senior actors. “I don’t know about the younger generation because they come with managers and twenty other people. These actors don’t come with an entourage. Sunny Deol doesn’t. Akshaye Khanna doesn’t. They’re sitting with you, bonding with you, discussing scenes and talking about life,” he said.
For him, the biggest difference is their efficiency. “They give you what you need in one or two takes. You’re not spending hours shooting. They’re thorough professionals because they’ve been doing this longer than you could ever imagine,” the director added.
What also helped was a unique editing process Malhotra followed throughout the shoot. Every night after pack-up, he would edit the day’s footage and screen it for the actors the following morning. “Every day that we shot this film, in the night I would edit the scenes and show them the next morning,” he revealed.
Malhotra emphasised that the idea was to ensure the actors understood the film’s evolving vision rather than just their individual scenes. A practice commonly followed in parts of the South Indian film industry, Malhotra believes it helped create complete trust between him and his cast.
“What happened was that they trusted me. There were no fireworks. They did exactly what I required because they knew where I was taking the film,” he said.
Sunny-Akshaye's different working style
Malhotra also broke down the contrasting approaches adopted by his lead actors. With Sunny Deol, it all begins with intention rather than dialogue.
The director said, “Sunny sir needs to understand the ‘why’ behind every line. Once he understands what you’re trying to say, you shouldn’t force him to follow the dialogue word for word. You have to give him the freedom to make the line his own because he’s a dialogue guy. Once it becomes his, he just flies with it.”
Off camera too, the actor left a lasting impression. “If he loves you as a human being, then he’s all yours. I fell in love with him as a family man. I think he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met in my life. Every time I meet him, I touch his feet with all my heart because that’s the kind of person he is,” he shared warmly.
Akshaye Khanna, on the other hand, approaches filmmaking with remarkable technical precision. “Akshaye wants to know exactly how you’re shooting the scene. How long is the master? Which compositions are you taking? What’s your edit pattern?” Malhotra said. The actor, he added, constantly pushes directors to be sharper.
“It could be that he’s testing you. It could be that he doesn’t want to waste energy doing the same thing repeatedly. What he’s telling you isn’t wrong. It actually saves a lot of time on set. But it also means you have to know your edit pattern. You have to know your film like the back of your hand,” he explained.
For Malhotra, those conversations ultimately made him a better filmmaker. “He’s only asking you to be professional,” the director added.
OTT versus theatres
As debates around streaming and theatrical releases continue, Malhotra believes filmmakers are asking the wrong questions. “I really believe getting a film made itself is the biggest challenge today,” he said.
Whether a film premieres on Netflix or in cinemas should not dictate storytelling, he argued. “If your film is being told on OTT or in theatres, it’s your job to tell that story to the best of your ability. Don’t think, ‘It’s OTT so I’ll tell it differently.’ The viewer is the same person who will also go to a theatre,” he asserted.
Before signing off, Malhotra also confirmed that work is progressing on his ambitious biopic on legendary filmmaker Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari. “We’ve just finished the script. We’re working on the cast, and there are a few other films in the pipeline that we’ll announce very soon,” he signed off.
Ikka is set to premiere on Netflix on July 10, 2026.
Bringing together actors Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna after years is enough to spark curiosity. Add to that, Sunny returning to the courtroom space decades after Damini (1993), and Ikka (2026) instantly became one of Netflix’s most anticipated Hindi films. But for director Siddharth P Malhotra, assembling this star-studded cast wasn’t the difficult part, he told India Today in an exclusive conversation.
Malhotra opened up about directing industry veterans, why he prefers working with actors from an older generation and the unusual filmmaking technique he adopted on the sets of Ikka. He revealed why he believes filmmakers should stop obsessing over the OTT-versus-theatrical debate.
Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna reunion
Casting actors like Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Dia Mirza, and Tillotama Shome may sound like an uphill task, but Malhotra says the process was surprisingly effortless.
“Actually, the cast was the easiest part. Whoever I approached for this film said yes on the first go. Saying it was difficult would actually be a lie,” he said. According to the director, the screenplay did most of the convincing. “It’s the power of the script. The script was so good. Luckily, they had seen Maharaj. They had seen my work before. They’ve known me because of my father, my grandfather and my work. So there was already trust. They trusted me as a human being and as a filmmaker, and they loved the script. So, everyone came on board immediately,” he explained.
The reunion of Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna naturally comes with expectations. But Malhotra says working with actors who have decades of experience is less about managing egos and more about mutual respect.
“The one thing nobody is prepared for is that every actor comes with their own personality and their own life. That’s not just Sunny Deol or Akshaye Khanna. That’s everybody who walks onto a set,” he said, adding that he sees virtually no downside to working with veterans. “There are no other cons. I would only work with actors from that generation. I’ve worked with Rani, Kajol and Kareena—they’re the best people to work with,” he added.
Why working with senior actors is efficient
Malhotra doesn’t hide his admiration for the professionalism of senior actors. “I don’t know about the younger generation because they come with managers and twenty other people. These actors don’t come with an entourage. Sunny Deol doesn’t. Akshaye Khanna doesn’t. They’re sitting with you, bonding with you, discussing scenes and talking about life,” he said.
For him, the biggest difference is their efficiency. “They give you what you need in one or two takes. You’re not spending hours shooting. They’re thorough professionals because they’ve been doing this longer than you could ever imagine,” the director added.
What also helped was a unique editing process Malhotra followed throughout the shoot. Every night after pack-up, he would edit the day’s footage and screen it for the actors the following morning. “Every day that we shot this film, in the night I would edit the scenes and show them the next morning,” he revealed.
Malhotra emphasised that the idea was to ensure the actors understood the film’s evolving vision rather than just their individual scenes. A practice commonly followed in parts of the South Indian film industry, Malhotra believes it helped create complete trust between him and his cast.
“What happened was that they trusted me. There were no fireworks. They did exactly what I required because they knew where I was taking the film,” he said.
Sunny-Akshaye's different working style
Malhotra also broke down the contrasting approaches adopted by his lead actors. With Sunny Deol, it all begins with intention rather than dialogue.
The director said, “Sunny sir needs to understand the ‘why’ behind every line. Once he understands what you’re trying to say, you shouldn’t force him to follow the dialogue word for word. You have to give him the freedom to make the line his own because he’s a dialogue guy. Once it becomes his, he just flies with it.”
Off camera too, the actor left a lasting impression. “If he loves you as a human being, then he’s all yours. I fell in love with him as a family man. I think he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met in my life. Every time I meet him, I touch his feet with all my heart because that’s the kind of person he is,” he shared warmly.
Akshaye Khanna, on the other hand, approaches filmmaking with remarkable technical precision. “Akshaye wants to know exactly how you’re shooting the scene. How long is the master? Which compositions are you taking? What’s your edit pattern?” Malhotra said. The actor, he added, constantly pushes directors to be sharper.
“It could be that he’s testing you. It could be that he doesn’t want to waste energy doing the same thing repeatedly. What he’s telling you isn’t wrong. It actually saves a lot of time on set. But it also means you have to know your edit pattern. You have to know your film like the back of your hand,” he explained.
For Malhotra, those conversations ultimately made him a better filmmaker. “He’s only asking you to be professional,” the director added.
OTT versus theatres
As debates around streaming and theatrical releases continue, Malhotra believes filmmakers are asking the wrong questions. “I really believe getting a film made itself is the biggest challenge today,” he said.
Whether a film premieres on Netflix or in cinemas should not dictate storytelling, he argued. “If your film is being told on OTT or in theatres, it’s your job to tell that story to the best of your ability. Don’t think, ‘It’s OTT so I’ll tell it differently.’ The viewer is the same person who will also go to a theatre,” he asserted.
Before signing off, Malhotra also confirmed that work is progressing on his ambitious biopic on legendary filmmaker Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari. “We’ve just finished the script. We’re working on the cast, and there are a few other films in the pipeline that we’ll announce very soon,” he signed off.
Ikka is set to premiere on Netflix on July 10, 2026.
