Abhishek Banerjee issues clarification on reports of him 'fired' by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions: 'Decision was...'

Bollywood star Abhishek Banerjee, who recently appeared in the blockbuster Stree 2 starring Shraddha Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, and Aparshakti Khurrana, recently recalled being removed from Karan Johar's Dharma Productions due to a disagreement over the casting process for Agneepath.

While speaking to Siddharth Kannan, the actor recalled the time when he was removed from the production. On August 19, the actor issued a clarification on the same. He wrote, "This week I have been blessed, with two releases and one controversy. I've been reading and hearing a lot of reports about Dharma Productions supposedly firing my company, Casting Bay, during the casting process of Agneepath (2012)."

He added, "Unfortunately, this situation has been completely misrepresented as accusatory on our part. In a podcast/interview, I had stated the reason for our dismissal, acknowledging that we were unable to align with the vision of director Karan Malhotra for Agneepath. I also emphasized that Anmol and I were quite young at the time, around 20 to 23 years old, with little to no experience in casting for a major commercial film, which perhaps led to us misinterpreting Mr. Malhotra's requirements for the project."

Abhishek clarified that he has not accused or suggested any wrongdoing by Dharma Productions. He emphasized his deep respect for both the company and Karan Johar. In his note, he mentioned that he never implicated Karan Johar in their dismissal, despite some reports falsely claiming the filmmaker was responsible. "The decision was actually made by Mr. Malhotra's team, and I accepted our mistakes," Banerjee wrote.

For the unversed, Abhishek Banerjee recalled the time when he was fired from Agneepath. He said, "Why were we removed? Because Karan sir didn’t like our casting. We were casting Anurag Kashyap-type actors. He didn’t like it and said, get out of our film."

In its first three days, Stree 2 had earned Rs 188 crore worldwide and had crossed the lifetime earnings of the first part. On its fourth day of release, i.e. on August 18, the horror comedy has added Rs 55 crore net in India, as per the early estimates from the entertainment tracking portal Sacnilk. The film has easily crossed Rs 200 crore globally and is expected to see huge numbers on Monday too on the account of Raksha Bandhan holiday. With no major releases till September end, the Amar Kaushik directorial can easily become one of the biggest blockbusters in Bollywood.

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