Rejected me, stay damned!

The king-size Bollywood ego doesn’t take well to ‘NO’

The one word Bollywood doesn’t take in its stride is rejection. Inflated egos of stars, star-directors, and makers leave marginal room for slight. Here, hell hath no fury like a filmi scorned. So, when Ranveer Singh reportedly ‘rejected’ Farhan Akhtar’s Don 3, leaving him and his producer-partner Ritesh Sidhwani red-faced with anger and embarrassment, both men decided to make the Dhurandhar duology craze eat crow.

Revenge for rejection

They sent the FWICE (The Federation of Western India Cine Employees) a copy of their books in which the Don 3 pre-production expenses, to the tune of Rs 45 crore, were allegedly shown. They alleged it was all Singh’s fault. The books were not open to the media, so they continue to remain a well-guarded B-Town secret. Unofficial pages of the expense sheets are being floated, but there is no official record available to the press. Also, the association was egged on by whomsoever is concerned with Don 3 to wage war against this season’s GOAT. Last Monday, the associations got together and issued a ‘non-cooperation with Ranveer Singh’ diktat to all of their reported five lakh members, including spot boys, light men, art department workers, etc. At a press conference in Mumbai, four members representing the various associations spoke of how “Ranveer will not be able to do a film or even a commercial because our members across India will not co-operate with him.”

Legal teams vs association

Ouch... that hurt. Of course, Ranveer’s legal team quickly spoke of how the non-cooperation directive against their client was legally toothless. As of now, the matter stands there. There are raging debates on social media on how Ranveer cannot be, will not be, and should not be banned just because he rejected a film. After all, there are instances of at least four big films in his pre-Dhurandhar days — including Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Baiju Bawra and S. Shankar’s Aparichit — that were called off at the nth hour.

Why? Back then, RS stood on shaky ground, having delivered some back-to-back duds like Circus, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, and 83. It is rumoured that Sanjay Leela Bhansali had actually blocked close to a year (for prep time and shooting) for his Baiju Bawra, in which Ranveer was to play the lead. And then, one fine day, he ran in the direction of Singh’s rivals, Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal.

RK was solid after Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal. And Kaushal had Chhaava. He quickly announced Love & War with Kaushal, Alia Bhatt, and Kapoor. This time, Ranveer was left stunned, with his date diary in hand, licking his wounds. And no association or respected person from the film industry came forward to fight for or highlight the boy’s case. Yeh filmi duniya bhi sansar hai; everything that goes around comes around.

Witch-hunting is a B-town norm

But Ranveer is not the first victim of this witch-hunt. In the ’90s, Meenakshi Seshadri had the misfortune of having a director fall madly in love with her. She has told us that when she refused Rajkumar Santoshi’s marriage proposal, she was asked to leave Damini (1993). In a show of solidarity, no other actress, including Madhuri Dixit, agreed to step into the title role. Later, the Producers Guild ensured that Seshadri was reinstated in the project.

Dimple Kapadia also had a dukh-bhara experience

An industry source reveals that the Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) also came down like a ton of bricks on Dimple Kapadia for walking out of Raj Kanwar’s Kartavya (1995). The gorgeous Divya Bharti, who passed away in April 1993, was just 17 when she was signed to play the romantic lead opposite Sanjay Kapoor. Dimple was signed to play her mother-in-law. However, after Divya’s untimely demise, Juhi Chawla replaced the late actress. Dimple staged a walkout because she couldn’t play Juhi’s saas. There is exactly a ten-year age gap between Chawla and Kapadia.

Naturally, Dimple, who was doing well in lead roles, felt that this move would harm her career. The next thing she knew was that the CINTAA (which had office-bearers like Ram Mohan and Asha Parekh) was ordering a ‘ban’ on Rajesh Khanna’s estranged wife. Of course, the matter was ultimately sorted out by a razor-sharp star manager, who jumped to Dimple’s rescue. The case was ultimately dismissed, but not before they had put Dimple through a terrible ordeal.

Associations and actors need to forge a deeper bond

There are a few lesser-known instances of actors who have ‘rejected’ films, marriage proposals, advances from ‘predatory’ filmmakers, and so on and so forth. The first attempt by the predator or the producer has always been to knock on an association’s door. 

One must also add that associations like CINTAA, the Producers Guild affiliated with the FWICE, and some independent film bodies have their merits. They have helped actors, workers, and technicians get their rightful dues, etc.

But if you want an actor or filmmaker to stop taking legal recourse, then the merit of each case should be weighed, and associations and actors need to understand each other better.

Smile, Please!

Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh recently met with Arsenal Star Declan Rice in Budapest. On Friday evening, Ranveer left his fans surprised after he shared a picture with Declan Rice on his Instagram Story. In the image, the duo is seen smiling warmly as they pose together. What made Ranveer’s post even more eye-catching was his choice of background music -- Kishore Kumar’s timeless classic Tere Jaisa Yaar Kahan from Yaarana. “About last night (red and white heart emojis),” he captioned the post.