Rajniesh Duggall, in a new interview, recalled how he got replaced in Priyanka Chopra starrer Yakeen at the last minute.
Model-turned-actor Rajniesh Duggall recently recalled facing a huge setback when he marked his entry in the Hindi film industry. The ‘1920’ actor shared a shocking revelation about how he was dropped out of Girish Dhamija’s 2005 film Yakeen.
In a conversation with Siddharth Kannan, Rajniesh stated the reason behind this as the film’s heroine Priyanka Chopra allegedly refused to share screen space with him at the last minute as she didn’t want to work with a newcomer.
The ‘Ek Paheli Leela’ star shared, “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.”
Sharing that the producer had already invested a lot in him, providing him with the best facilities like a Juhu penthouse, a chauffeur-driven car, and a cook, Rajniesh talked about how he had undergone training for 2-2.5 months for the film.
He continued, “They signed a three-film deal with me. I had a double role in the film with Priyanka as the lead. They put me in a penthouse at Juhu 10th Road. They gave me a car and a driver. One call and a person would bring food to my flat. I was going to classes and fully preparing. I prepared for 2-2.5 months. ”
The actor revealed that in order to concentrate on the film, he even left brand endorsements of Siyaram, Vimal, and other companies.
Recalling the night that marked his exit from the film, Rajniesh said, “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.”
He also opened up on Priyanka’s decision not to work with him on that film and said, “They said Priyanka wanted that, but I feel it could have been the managers or the people around her. I don’t blame her, but she was aware that I was doing the film. She could have said, ‘No, he will do it.’”
On the work front, Rajniesh was last seen in the series, Postcards.
