EXCLUSIVE: Writer Aamil Keeyan Khan recalls Akshaye Khanna walking out of Drishyam The Conclusion 7 days before shoot: “Hum log pe bomb phoota tha!”; hails Abhishek Pathak: “Any other director would have panicked, but he remained calm”
Drishyam The Conclusion had been in the news even before it went on floors, especially after Akshaye Khanna walked out of the film at the last minute. Jaideep Ahlawat then stepped in, giving the makers much-needed relief. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Aamil Keeyan Khan, who wrote the dialogues and is also one of the screenplay writers and lyricists of the film, spoke about this aspect.
Aamil Keeyan Khan said, “Seven or eight days before the shoot was to start, he walked out of the film. When he left, hum log pe bomb phoota tha! The dates of everyone were locked and a new character had to be introduced. We didn’t have a choice. There was no time left and we had to change several scenes in the first half and second half. We worked day and night at that time. We had to not just introduce a new character but also raise the stakes. Since so much was happening in the film already, we couldn’t lengthen the narrative. And on top of it, we just had seven days to pull it off. It was a major challenge. Thankfully, all went well.”
The writers also organically established at the beginning of the film that IG Tarun Ahlawat (Akshaye Khanna) was no longer handling the case and that Rajveer Singh Tomar (Jaideep Ahlawat) of the Crime Branch had now taken an interest in it.
Aamil explained, “Yes, we needed to address it. Hats off to Abhishek Pathak. In that situation, any other director would have panicked, but he didn’t. The film could have been pushed ahead. In that case, it would not have been easy for him as he was also one of the producers. But he remained calm.”
He added, “What people don’t realise is that when something like this happens, it’s always the little guy who suffers. Do haathi ki ladaai mein hamesha ghaas kuchalti hai. When a film gets postponed, the big names can survive, but what about the hundreds of people whose livelihoods depend on the film’s shoot starting on time? The dadas, spot boys, lightmen – they are the ones who suffer. And it is to Abhishek’s credit that he made sure the shoot didn’t have to be pushed any further. All the HODs worked really hard to ensure that the train stayed on time. I’m just glad it all worked out.”
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