Kartik Aaryan was involved in a similar controversy surrounding Dharma Productions’ Dostana 2.
Producer Manish Shah accused actor Kartik Aaryan of unprofessionalism, and revealed that the actor threatened to walk out of Shehzada, a Hindi remake of the Allu Arjun-starrer Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, if the dubbed version of the film were to be released in theatres.
The theatrical release of the dubbed version was ultimately cancelled, and Manish has decided to debut the film on his TV channel. He said that he caved in because of the relationship he shares with Allu Arjun and the other producers, and not because of Kartik, whom he described as a Bollywood actor that he doesn’t know.
He told IndiaToday.in, that the producers of Shehzada would have lost Rs 40 crore had Kartik walked out at this stage. “It was extremely unprofessional of him,” he said. Manish also claimed that he has lost Rs 20 crore because of this, since he was expecting the Hindi-dubbed version to perform better than the recent Allu-starrer Pushpa: The Rise. “I spent Rs 2 crores only on dubbing,” he said.
Shehzada is being produced by Allu Aravind (who also co-produced Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo) in collaboration with Bhushan Kumar and Aman Gill. This is not the first time that Kartik has been mired in a controversy. The actor parted ways with Dharma Productions on Dostana 2, for which he had even shot portions. Dharma, in a statement, refused to divulge details and said that it would maintain a ‘dignified silence’ on the matter.
Kartik has often commented on the negative press that he attracts, and said that it no longer bothers him. He was last seen in the Netflix thriller Dhamaka, and has several films, including Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, lined up.
