A mechanical engineer from NIT Rourkela with an MBA from XLRI, M Phil and Ph D from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Akash Khurana made his first appearance in Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug and went on to act in nearly 60 feature films. He won the Nandi Award for his performance as the lead character in Telugu film Dr. Ambedkar and has written over 20 screen plays, of which Baazigar won him the prestigious Filmfare Award.

He was editor of the theatre journal OVATION, and was recently the Artistic Advisor to the NCPA Repertory Theatre. Akash helped launch the Prithvi Theatre Festival and has been a core member of Arpana, Motley, and Akvarious Productions, three of India’s foremost theatre companies.