Akshaye Khanna

Khanna made his comeback to Bollywood in 2016 with the action cop comedy Dishoom, in which he starred alongside Varun Dhawan, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Saqib Saleem, and Tarun Khanna, playing the role of the main antagonist Wagah, a bookie who targets a top batsman (played by Saleem). The feature received mixed reviews from critics, but emerged as one of his most successful, earning over ₹1.20 billion (US$17 million) worldwide.

Ravi Udayawar's crime thriller Mom was Khanna's first release of 2017. Co-starring with Sridevi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sajal Ali, and Adnan Siddiqui, he received appreciation for his performance as Matthew, a CBI officer. The film narrated the story of a vigilante (played by Sridevi) who sets out to avenge the rape of her step-daughter (played by Ali). The feature garnered positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Sridevi's performance. With a global revenue of over ₹1.75 billion (US$25 million), it emerged as a financial success and Khanna's biggest success of his career. Later that year, he starred as an investigative cop in Abhay Chopra's murder-mystery Ittefaq—a remake of the 1969 film of the same name. Co-starring Sonakshi Sinha and Sidharth Malhotra, it proved to be an average grosser."