Spat with Akki cost Sajid.
By Tathagata Mitra
BANGALORE: Even as he basks in the spotlight of his latest release Humshakals, looks like Sajid Khan will still have a reason to rue the day: the cast and crew of the new Housefull film has been announced, and Sajid has been left out of the project. Producer Sajid Nadiadwala has roped in newbie director duo Sajid-Farhad whose first film, ‘It’s Entertainment’ has not even released yet in theaters.
Also a big addition to the star cast has come in the shape of Abhishek Bachchan as he joins Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh in the third installment in this hit series.
Sajid Khan’s predicament although sad is not altogether surprising. In the spat that he had with the series’ lead actor Akshay Kumar post the success of Housefull 2, Akki’s friend and producer Nadiadwala had a falling out with Sajid. Since then all ties between the producer and the director have been severed, and since then Sajid has turned to Vashu Bhagnani for producing his films.
The reason for Sajid’s spat with Akshay which led to everything was something Sajid had said on national television, in an interview with Rajeev Masand. When asked why he doesn’t work with newcomers, Sajid had replied, “Housefull 1 and Housefull 2, sort of, got Akshay out of a bad patch of six to seven flop films. He had a run of six to seven flop films, after which Housefull became the first big grosser in 2010. Then again, he had a patch of six to seven films. Then again, it was Housefull 2.”
Well you can’t expect to say something like that about a main man of Bollywood and expect to get away with it.
Abhishek’s joining the franchise, however, is a much more of a delightful surprise. Abhishek is good with comedy, as films like Dostana exhibit. So no doubt that it will be fun to watch him star opposite Akshay and Riteish in this film. The duo have been the only constant among the lead actors of this series. While the first starred Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone and Lara Dutta, the second starred Asin Thottumkal, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Shreyas Talpade, Zarine Khan, and Shazahn Padamsee. There is no word on anyone except for Akshay and Riteish to return for the film.
Abhishek is reuniting with Akshay on screen after a period of 12 years. They last worked together in 2002 on ‘Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya’, which also starred Karisma Kapoor.