Stree 2 actor Abhishek Banerjee recently revealed that he was fired as the casting director of Agneepath. The excerpt from the interview went viral and now, the actor has clarified what he calls a “misinterpretation”. He had earlier told Siddharth Kannan, “We were fired from Agneepath. We were casting for Agneepath, it was then taken over by Jogi (Mallang) bhai. Why were we removed? Because Karan sir didn’t like our casting.” As the film was produced by Karan Johar and directed by Karan Malhotra, it was unclear which Karan he hinted at. Abhishek has now cleared that he meant Karan Malhotra and not Johar.
Abhishek issued a statement that read, “This week I have been blessed with two releases and one controversy. I’ve been reading and hearing a lot of reports about Dharma Productions supposedly firing my company, Casting Bay, during the casting process of Agneepath (2012). Unfortunately, this situation has been completely misrepresented as accusatory on our part. In a podcast/interview, I had stated the reason for our dismissal, acknowledging that we were unable to align with the vision of director Karan Malhotra for Agneepath. I also emphasized that Anmol and I were quite young at the time, around 20 to 23 years old, with little to no experience in casting for a major commercial film, which perhaps led to us misinterpreting Mr. Malhotra’s requirements for the project.”
Absolving Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions of the blame, Abhishek added that he has a lot of respect for the filmmaker and producer and that he, in fact, hinted at his namesake Karan Malhotra. “I have not accused or suggested any wrongdoing on the part of Dharma Productions. In fact, I have deep respect for Dharma Productions and Karan Johar. I never mentioned Karan Johar in relation to our dismissal, yet some reports falsely claim that he was the one who fired us. The decision was actually made by Mr. Malhotra’s team, and I accepted our mistakes. I shared this story to encourage young people that even if you fail or hit a roadblock, you can always bounce back, as we did. We went on to work on several projects with Dharma, starting with Ok Jaanu, Student of the Year 2, Kalank and recent releases like Kill and Gyarah Gyarah. Additionally, Dharma even cast me as an actor in Ajeeb Daastaans,” he wrote.
Thanking Karan Johar’s production house, Abhishek added, “Dharma has always been very good to me and to my company, Casting Bay. It is a relationship we value and nurture. PS: I am not putting this out for the hamper.”
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