When Akshaye Khanna called Aishwarya Rai 'sexiest woman', said he can't take his eyes off her: 'It's embarassing for...'

Akshaye Khanna, Sidharth Malhotra, and Sonakshi Sinha starred together in the 2017 mystery thriller Ittefaq, which was an adaptation of the 1969 film of the same name directed by Yash Chopra. Ittefaq was helmed by late Yash Chopra's nephew Ravi Chopra's son Abhay Chopra in his directorial debut and was produced by late Ravi Chopra's wife Renu Ravi Chopra, Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan, and Karan Johar under their banners BR Studios, Red Chillies Entertainment, and Dharma Productions.

To promote the film, its three leading stars Akshaye, Sidharth, and Sonakshi sat with the producer for a video titled Interrogation with Karan Johar in Koffee With Karan style. In the clip, the acclaimed filmmaker asked the Chhaava actor to name the "sexiest woman" in the Hindi film industry. Khanna replied, "Ash (Aishwarya Rai). I can’t take my eyes off her every time I meet her. It’s embarrassing for men. She must be used to it - people staring at her. But I am not used to not being able to take my eyes off somebody. You just keep staring at her like a lunatic." Sonakshi further added, "Not only guys. Even I am not able to take my eyes off her. She is damn stunning."

Akshaye Khanna and Aishwarya Rai have been paired opposite each other in two romantic dramas - Aa Ab Laut Chalen and Taal. Both the movies were released in 1999. While the former was the only movie directed by Rishi Kapoor, the latter was helmed by Subhash Ghai and became famous due to its epic soundtrack by AR Rahman.

Coming back to Ittefaq, the film received positive reviews from the critics and audiences, and was successful at the box office too. The mystery thriller, which also starred Pavail Gulati, Mandira Bedi, and Sameer Sharma, earned Rs 60 crore gross worldwide against its budget of Rs 30 crore.