Although he initially started his acting career with a delayed release in the Anand Surapur-directed drama "The Fakir of Venice", Akhtar made his official screen debut with "Rock On!!" (2008) for which he won a second National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi as producer, and indulged in further experimentation with Zoya's directorial debut "Luck By Chance" (2009) and the Vijay Lalwani-directed "Karthik Calling Karthik" (2010), before he wrote the dialogues and served as producer for the critical and commercial success "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" (2011) starring him in a leading role, which won him 4 Filmfare Awards, including Best Supporting Actor. The same year, after directing a sequel to "Don" titled "Don 2" (2011), which remains his highest-grossing film till date, he achieved further success by portraying Milkha Singh in the 2013 film "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Later, he received praise for starring in Zoya's ensemble comedy-drama "Dil Dhadakne Do" (2015) and Bejoy Nambiar's crime thriller "Wazir" (2016).