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Why Ekta Kapoor has sued her Dream Girl director Raaj Shaandilyaa over Akshay Kumar’s Bhagam Bhag 2
After Hera Pheri 3, another Akshay Kumar sequel -- Bhagam Bhag 2 -- has halted production after Ekta Kapoor sued its director Raaj Shaandilyaa over breach of their three-film deal contract.
Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar in Bhagam Bhag.
Ekta Kapoor has sued Raaj Shaandilyaa, the director of her hit Dream Girl franchise, over breach of a three-film contract with her production house, Balaji Motion Pictures. Raaj, who was yet to helm the third film as part of the deal with Ekta, was about to go on floors with a film outside of Balaji Motion Pictures this month.
Bhagam Bhag 2 derailed
The film in question was Bhagam Bhag 2, the sequel to Priyadarshan’s 2006 hit comedy thriller. Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal were all set to reunite and reprise their roles. Manoj Bajpayee was set to replace Govinda from the first part, and Meenakshi Chaudhary and Dhurandhar’s “Shararat” girl Ayesha Khan had joined the cast as leading ladies paired with Akshay. Lara Dutta was cast opposite him in the first part.
The film was all set to go on floors this past Monday on March 2 for a 25-day schedule in Lucknow. However, the shoot has now been halted because of the legal tussle between Ekta and Raaj. The two had entered into a three-film deal before Dream Girl 2. Raaj, who made his directorial debut with Ekta’s 2019 hit production Dream Girl, reunited with her for its sequel, which turned out to be an even bigger success.
Starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Ananya Panday, Dream Girl 2 earned over Rs 100 crore at the domestic box office in 2023. Raaj and Ekta followed that up with the 2024 comedy Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video. But the Rajkummar Rao and Triptti Dimri-starrer couldn’t even earn half of the total domestic box office collection of their previous collaboration.
Bhagam Bhag 2 vs Bhooth Bangla
SCREEN reached out to the representatives of Ekta and Akshay, but neither confirmed or denied the development by the time of publishing. While we couldn’t verify it independently, reports suggest Ekta has also sued the producers of Bhagam Bhag 2 — Ashwin Warde and Akshay Kumar’s Cape of Good Films — in the process. The makers have now halted the project and are trying to resolve the issue amicably. While a new director may come onboard soon, that may delay the film considerably since the actors involved would get busy with other projects in the coming months.
Interestingly, Ekta and Akshay have also collaborated on Priyadarshan’s upcoming horror comedy Bhooth Bangla, which is slated to release in cinemas on April 10. They’d already kickstarted the promotions, also unveiling the film’s first song “Ram Ji Aake Bhala Karenge” featuring Akshay. The film marks Akshay and Priyadarshan’s reunion 16 years after the 2010 political satire Khatta Meetha.
Not Akshay’s first sequel stuck in legal limbo
Bhagam Bhag 2 isn’t Akshay’s first sequel to get stuck in legal hassles. Even his much-anticipated threequel, Priyadarshan’s buddy comedy Hera Pheri 3, is currently on the backburner because of the ambiguity over who owns the rights over the franchise. Right when Hera Pheri 3 was about to go on floors, with Akshay, Paresh, and Suniel Shetty reprising their roles from the 2000 cult comedy, GP Vijayakumar approached the Madras High Court, claiming he owns the rights to the film.
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He argued that while Feroz Nadiadwala, the producer of Hera Pheri and its 2006 sequel Phir Hera Pheri, had the rights to make only the first film, which was a remake of Vijayakumar’s 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking. But Nadiadwala went on to violate the contract by not making a sequel, but also transferring the rights of a threequel to Akshay’s Cape of Good Films.
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