Aakeel gained his first leading feature role in the film Eaten by Lions as Omar, a young man in search of his estranged father. The film had a wide cinematic release in April 2019 and also starred comedians Johnny Vegas, Jack Carroll and Asim Chaudhry.

Screen Daily announced Aakeel would be leading Abid Khan’s debut feature Granada Nights as Ben, a heartbroken British tourist on a journey of hedonism and discovery in Granada, Spain.

He appeared opposite Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander in Warnerbros’ 2018 Tomb Raider reboot, directed by Roar Uthaug.

In 2016, Aakeel was cast alongside Riz Ahmed and Billie Piper in the London crime thriller City of Tiny Lights directed by BAFTA winner Pete Travis. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2016 and released in UK cinemas April 2017.^[9]

Later that year, Aakeel landed a supporting role in The Hungry, Film London’s contemporary feature adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus playing troubled brother to Life of Pi’s Suraj Sharma. The Film premiered under special presentations at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2015, he appeared as Raza in feature film The Contract, written by David Marconi and directed by Nic Auerbach.

Aakeel starred as Nasir Baloch in the political short film The Line of Freedom, directed by David Whitney. The film depicts the true story of a murdered student rights activist and premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival. Upon its release, the film was immediately met with controversy and subsequently prohibited in Pakistan.