Like Hassan, the shy
and reticent masseur he played in his debut film 1947 Earth, Rahul Khanna is a man of few words. Sitting at a
posh coffee shop in South Mumbai, where ForbesLife
India meets him for a freewheeling chat, the
VJ-turned-model-turned-actor takes his time to choose his words carefully. But
when he speaks, a few sentences to each question, the articulate style icon
turns heads with his clarity of thought, just like he does on screen, playing
the suave Yousaf Rana in The Americans,
an espionage series set in the Cold War era.
Despite father Vinod
Khanna being a Bollywood star, Rahul Khanna never grew up as the “star child”.
His introverted nature is reflected in his aversion for all things flashy;
instead his wardrobe is replete with pieces that are classic and
“conservative”. “I want a long-term relationship with my wardrobe. I love the
idea of savouring pieces by reusing them over and over rather than discarding
them after just one or two outings,” says the 43-year-old.
While Khanna loves
owning beautiful and stylish clothes, he says he dislikes the process of acquiring
them. “In show business, so much time is spent on trying on clothes that when
it comes to my personal wardrobe, the very thought of shopping exhausts me. So
I try and do it as infrequently as possible.” he says. But once he finds
something he likes, he tends to buy it in multiples, in case he can’t find it
again.
Here’s his masterclass
on the 10 must-haves in a man’s wardrobe:
