Ayushmann Khurrana breaks silence on Mohanlal’s ‘secondary casting’ row: ‘He is a legend’

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Jude Anthany Joseph, Ayushmann Khurrana set the record straight

“So happy that I could meet this awesome person. I’ve always wanted to work with him and really hope I get that chance someday,” Jude wrote on social media, while sharing a photo of him with Ayushmann. He added, “He was so happy with the Mohanlal sir script, and unfortunately, it didn’t work out. It was definitely not his fault that it didn’t happen. But I’m genuinely happy that I got to meet an actor with so much talent and calibre. Hope we get to work together someday.”

In the comment section, Ayushmann noted, “I’m a fan of your (Jude) work, and I hope that I get the opportunity to work with you soon. I have the utmost respect for Mohanlal sir’s work. He is a legend. I hope I’m worthy enough to share screen space with him someday.”

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However, in an earlier version of the post, Jude had claimed that the controversial statement about Mohanlal was made by the project’s producer. “Just to clarify, my Mohanlal sir comment was about the producer and had nothing to do with him (Ayushmann),” he wrote. But Jude seems to have edited the post later and removed the said line.

Why Jude Anthany Joseph walked out of Bollywood debut

During a recent interview with Club FM, the director claimed he walked out of the project, which was supposed to mark his Bollywood debut, after feeling the makers disrespected Mohanlal by labelling his casting as “secondary.” While Ayushmann Khurrana was proposed to play the lead role, Mohanlal also had a significant part in the film, written specifically for him. Jude then wrote the whole script, but the project kept getting delayed due to endless discussions at the production level.

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“They kept discussing and discussing for about six or seven months,” he recalled. Jude further shared, telling the production house, “You can discuss all you want, but first you have to commit to the movie with Mohanlal playing the role. He has to be in my film.” The production house’s response, however, was that it would move to “secondary casting” only after being fully convinced by the script.

This shocked Jude, and he called the team immediately to clarify exactly who they meant by “secondary casting,” only to be told it referred to Mohanlal. Unimpressed by their purported disrespect towards the acting legend, the director decided to back out of the project after returning the advance he had received and signing a non-disclosure agreement to formally close the matter.