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‘After Twinkle Khanna left him, he refused to work with Priyanka Chopra again’: Akshay Kumar’s ‘blunder’ revisited by Suneel Darshan

Director Suneel Darshan recalled Akshay Kumar walking out of Barsaat at the last moment after rumours of his affair with Priyanka Chopra affected his marriage with Twinkle Khanna.

Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra were supposed to star in Barsaat.

The 2005 film Barsaat, which starred Bobby Deol in the lead role, was initially offered to Akshay Kumar. The actor had even filmed a song for the movie, with co-star Priyanka Chopra. However, director Suneel Darshan recently revealed that Akshay walked out of the project at the last moment after rumours of his affair with Priyanka affected his marriage with Twinkle Khanna.

In a conversation on the YouTube channel Friday Talkies, Suneel recalled, “Akshay Kumar was the hero of Barsaat. As the film started, he faced some ‘ajeeb sa problem‘ with his wife. Barsaat had already started shooting with Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra. The film was supposed to be shot in one schedule and five days before the schedule, Akshay called me and asked me to meet. While I was on the way to meet Akshay, Bobby’s manager called me and asked me to make a film with him. I told him to wait.”

Elaborating on why Akshay ultimately stepped away from the project, Suneel explained, “Kuch blunder aise ho chuke thay (He did some blunders). Some rumours about Priyanka Chopra and Akshay Kumar started doing the rounds and Twinkle had left his home. As an actor you have to be responsible. If your wife has been an actress, she knows everything about the industry and she has also worked with all the big stars. She knew everything.” Suneel clarified that he did not hold Priyanka responsible for the situation, adding, “I don’t blame Priyanka Chopra for this. She was doing what was in her own interest.”

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As fate would have it, on his way to meet Akshay, Suneel received the call from Bobby Deol’s manager, which ultimately led to Akshay being replaced by Bobby. After meeting with Bobby, Suneel signed a three-film deal with him. Bobby, who had debuted with the 1995 film Barsaat, returned to do a film with the same title.

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In an earlier interview with Times Now, Suneel spoke about this interesting twist of fate, “But after Barsaat was hero-less, Bobby felt he was meant to be in another film called Barsaat. After all, he had started his career with a film of that title. Destiny willed that he come back to a film called Barsaat. And look at the coincidence. Both the films with Bobby had music by Nadeem-Shravan.”

Akshay and Priyanka have worked together in films like Aitraaz, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Andaaz, Waqt and more.

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