Actor Rajniesh Duggall, who made his Bollywood debut with 2008 horror thriller '1920', was supposed to make his debut with Priyanka Chopra's film 'Yakeen' in 2005. But, he couldn't be part of it. Read on to know the reason.
In an interview, Rajniesh Duggall revealed that Priyanka Chopra refused to work with him in the film as he was a newcomer. So, he was dropped from his first project.
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Rajniesh said, “I was the first choice for Yakeen, I was signed for the film. In fact, I was working on it. When I met director Girish Dhamija, he asked me, ‘When can you move to Mumbai?’ I was already planning to move to Mumbai. So, I got training from Girish ji himself; he is an alumnus of the National School of Drama and a dialect coach''.
Rajniesh also said that the producer invested a lot in him, and even signed a three-film deal with him. He was given a penthouse in Juhu, a chauffeur-driven car, and a cook. The actor also underwent training for the film for five months. But as Priyanka’s refused to work with him, he couldn't be part of it.
Reacalling how producer Sujit Kumar Singh broke the news to him, Duggall shared, “Suddenly, the producer, Sujit Kumar Singh, called me to his office at night. He told me that Priyanka has become a big star in the time span since they had signed me and they had paid her for the bulk deal, now she is saying ‘I will not work with a newcomer.’ My first reaction was that change the girl because I only saw them putting money on me. I didn’t understand movie business at that time''.
However, Rajniesh doesn't blame Priyanka as he feels her managers must have taken that decision on her behalf but he also feels that as she was aware that he was doing the film, she could have said, ''No, he will do it’''.
For the unversed, apart from Priyanka, 'Yakeen' also starred Arjun Rampal, Kim Sharma, Sudhanshu Pandey and Saurabh Shukla.
