Bobby Deol says Shekhar Kapur quit Barsaat after 27 days, left him frustrated; dad Dharmendra had to step in to save the day

Actor Bobby Deol has said that director Shekhar Kapur was supposed to direct his debut film Barsaat, but had to drop out after 27 days of shooting because the filmmaker got the offer to make Bandit Queen. Bobby said that Shekhar quitting the film delayed it by two years and was very ‘frustrating’.

Rajkumar Santoshi was hired as Shekhar’s replacement. Barsaat also starred Twinkle Khanna, who was making her acting debut as well. Twinkle recently took to Twitter and wrote Bobby a nostalgic message: “I just saw the interview and then this tweet. Dude am all teary eyed. Nostalgia.. Today our boys are as old as we were when we worked together. Love you loads.”

Bobby told Bollywood Hungama, “It was really frustrating. I had developed a good friendship with him. It happens when you’re working with someone and you spend a year-and-a-half with them every day. I kept telling Shekhar, ‘Why don’t you finish the film?’ but he had a bigger opportunity. What’s meant to be will be.”

He added, “That’s why it took so long. Otherwise, my film would’ve come out in 1993. But because of all this that happened, it came out in 1995.”

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Bobby said that he would go to Shekhar’s office everyday and work on the script. He said, “There was so much excitement. But soon after we started, Shekhar got an offer from Hollywood to make Bandit Queen. And we had shot for 27 days. For an Indian director to get an offer from Hollywood in those days was a big deal. It was a big decision and he said he’d rather do that. Pappa said that ‘listen, my son’s film is also important to me, and I know that you’ve got a Hollywood offer, so you should do what you want to, but know that I will make the film with someone else.’ That’s how Raj became a part of the project.”

Also read: Bobby Deol says he was supposed to play Akshay Kumar’s role in Ajnabee: ‘This industry is ruthless’

After four years out of the game, Bobby made his comeback of sorts with Shreyas Talpade’s Poster Boys, and followed it up with appearances in ensemble films Race 3 and Housefull 4 (also starring Akshay). This year, Bobby has appeared in Netflix’s Class of 83, produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, and then in the Prakash Jha-directed series Aashram.

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