Ranveer Singh’s shocking turn-around after agreeing contractually to star in Prasanth(Hanu Man) Varma’s Hindi-Telugu bi-lingual Rakshasa has sent shock waves across the Telugu film industry.
A while ago I had a very disturbing conversation with a source VERY VERY close to the project. He requested anonymity as he doesn’t want to escalate the crisis any further.
Says the source, “There is much speculation in the mainstream media in Mumbai over Ranveer Singh’s association with our film Rakshasa. To set the record straight, yes Ranveer agreed to star in Rakshasa and flew down to Hyderabad to shoot with us. Ironically it was Ranveer who pursued director Prasanth Varma, and not the other way. Prasanth had planned another project in Telugu after Hanu Man. Seeing Ranveer’s enthusiasm, Prasanth postponed his Telugu film to work on the Hindi-Telugu film with Ranveer.”
So far so cool. Then what happened? “Only God and Ranveer know. Ranveer flew down to shoot with us. Contrary to reports, he didn’t shoot a first-look video with us. He actually shot for the film for three days with us. We packed up happily. Ranveer told us he was really happy with what we had shot. We hugged him and he took a flight to Mumbai. The next thing we know he sends us a message saying he would not be able to do the film. No explanation was offered as to why. We were stunned. Making it worse was the fact that someone leaked this news to the Mumbai media. We would have dealt with the crisis discreetly quietly. In Mumbai they like to create a controversy even for unprofessional behaviour. We don’t work that way.”
What could have triggered such shockingly unprofessional behaviour ?
“Sir,we have no clue. We are told he was advised to not do the film by someone close to him whom he consults on all his projects. If this is so, shouldn’t he have taken the advise earlier and spared us the losses and embarrassment? Ranveer knew he was entering an Udipi restaurant. What did he expect to be served? He knew he would be served Idli-Sambhar, not Chhole -Bhature,” says the source angrily.
What kind of losses are they looking at? “Actually ,Sir, it is not going much to be that much. This is the era of Artificial Intelligence. We plan to incorporate Ranveer’s three days’ shooting into the film…That is, if he decides not to do our film at all. Yes, we are not blocking out discussions. We are leaving the option of his return open. Better sense may prevail. Those who advised him not to do our film may advise him to do it. But we want to ask Ranveer a question: is this a joke? To opt out a foolproof commitment ? Is he a child who thinks he can abandon a toy when he wants?”