The North-South divide in Hindi cinema seems to be bridging fast, at least as far as inviting leading ladies to co-star with Telugu-Tamil-Malayalam superstars is concerned.
But when a leading South Indian actor Dulquer Salmaan, was invited to Bollywood to co-star with Sonam Kapoor in a novel-to-screen adaptation of The Zoya Factor, the consequences were pretty much disastrous.
Now four years later, Rana Daggubati has allegedly taken a potshot by allegedly saying, “Dulquer was my junior at acting school. We became friends there. He is a very polite person. He was doing a Hindi movie and the producers are my friends. The shoot was happening near my house. I went there to meet Dulquer.While he was standing in the corner with the spot boy, a big Hindi heroine who was doing that movie was engrossed in a phone conversation about shopping in London with her husband. Her lack of focus affected the shots’ quality, frustrating those on set.Despite the disruptions caused by the situation, Dulquer remained patient and understanding, defusing tension and maintaining a harmonious environment.”
Rana has now apologized for the uncalled-for comment where he had not named anyone.
But a source close to the Kapoors says the family finds the comment discourteous.
“How can he(Rana) speak like that?Dulquer had no complaints when he did the film. He did multiple interviews at the time of the film’s release praising the film and Sonam.Why is someone else suddenly so concerned about what happened on the set of Zoya Factor?”