From Ulhasnagar To Mumbai’s Audition Rooms
Long before audiences knew him as Babu in Raakh, Akash Makhija was a young boy from a Sindhi joint family in Ulhasnagar with a dream that seemed impossible. Inspired by Baburao from Hera Pheri and Raju Srivastava’s iconic routines, he spent his childhood entertaining classmates.
His Baburao impression became so popular that friends started calling him “Baburao.” School competitions, debates, and drama performances only strengthened his love for the stage.
Everything changed in 2011 when he joined RD National College in Bandra and witnessed an advertisement audition on campus. For the first time, acting felt like a real possibility.
At just 17, he began travelling daily from Kalyan to Andheri in search of auditions. With no contacts or industry knowledge, he faced rejection after rejection. Many offices turned him away before he could even finish speaking. Still, he kept showing up.
Eventually, he landed his first commercial audition through Glamour Calling for a Nescafé ad that never aired. The project may not have reached audiences, but it gave him something just as important: belief.
What followed was a decade of persistence. One audition became ten, ten became hundreds, and the years kept passing. Akash appeared in nearly 100 advertisements, made his television debut with Gumrah, and steadily built a career through shows like Har Mard Ka Dard and Sargam Ki Sadhe Sati.
Films such as Half Girlfriend, Bhaiyya Ji, and Bhool Chuk Maaf followed, while OTT projects like Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi and Gram Chikitsalay showcased his range.
His performance as Gobind in Gram Chikitsalay earned widespread praise and a Filmfare nomination, marking one of the biggest milestones of his career.
The Role That Changed Everything
While shooting Gram Chikitsalay, Akash received an audition call for Raakh. At first, it felt like just another audition. Then he learned that nearly 700 to 800 actors were competing for the role of Babu.
Determined to give it everything, he cleared six rounds and reached the final shortlist. After months of waiting and multiple auditions, he felt closer than ever. Then came the call every actor fears.
The role had gone to someone else.
For most actors, that would have been the end of the story. For Akash, it was not.
After a mock shoot, the makers decided to recast the character. Just when the journey seemed over, the phone rang again. He was invited back into the process and given another chance. This time, Babu was his. The role felt almost destined. Akash had always wanted to play a dark and psychologically complex character. To prepare, he immersed himself in crime dramas and psychological thrillers.
The deeper he went into Babu’s world, the more the character followed him home. Around the same time, he had recently gotten engaged, yet the darkness of the role often stayed with him long after the cameras stopped rolling.
His strong creative understanding with director Prosit Roy helped him bring the character to life with chilling authenticity. When Raakh premiered, audiences were captivated by Babu.
Some viewers hated the character so intensely that Akash even received threats online. Instead of seeing it as a negative reaction, he viewed it as proof that the performance had worked exactly as intended.
Soon, appreciation poured in from every direction. Audiences praised his performance, industry professionals reached out, and the recognition he had spent years chasing finally arrived.
What makes Akash Makhija’s journey special is not just the success of Raakh. It is the story of a boy who loved making people laugh, a teenager who spent hours travelling across Mumbai in search of auditions, and an actor who refused to give up when success seemed out of reach.
Fourteen years after he first started chasing auditions, the boy once known as “Baburao” finally found the role that made the industry sit up and take notice. For Akash Makhija, Raakh was more than a breakthrough. It was proof that some dreams take longer to arrive, but they are worth waiting for.
