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Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 12, 2014)

It is official. Nargis Fakhri is out of the Shaukeen remake. And the decision comes less than a month before the film is scheduled to go on floors. Shooting will start in Mumbai on April 15 and after a brief three-day schedule, the unit will fly to Mauritius on April 20 for an extended outdoor. “She had confirmed her dates but then, all of a sudden, she called up from London requesting us to adjust our schedule so she could accommodate a Hollywood film which required her dates between April 20 and 27. We obliged, but two days later, she told us that she would need another three-four days as the schedule of that film has got stretched,” informed Murad Khetani, the co-producer of Shaukeen.

 Khetani pointed out that it was impossible for him to keep waiting indefinitely in a foreign country for the heroine to turn up, especially when he was working with an ensemble cast that includes busy actors like Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra. So, he had no option but to replace Nargis. “The decision has definitely put a spoke in the wheel since it was a lastminute change. But Nargis made it clear that the Hollywood film was her priority,” added Khetani.

 When contacted Nargis responded with an official statement: “I could not have asked the team to wait for me. Though it is heartbreaking, I had to let the film go. I was really excited at the prospect of working with the team of Shaukeen and especially Abhishek Sharma, who is a terrific director. However, the bond with the team and the film remains. I wish them the best ”

 Basu Chatterjee’s ’82 rom-com revolved around three lecherous old men (Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and AK Hangal) who vie with one another to impress a young dancer (Rati Agnihotri), little realising that she’s their driver, Mithun Chakraborty’s girlfriend. Khetani insists only the main premise is the same and Tigmanshu Dhulia has given a new dimension to the script. “We plan to wrap up the shoot by June and release the film by the year-end.", he says.
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Upala KBR (DNA; March 12, 2014)

With just two releases to her credit, Nargis Fakhri is still trying to find her place in Bollywood. But that hasn’t stopped her from rubbing producers the wrong way. The actress was committed to doing the remake of Shaukeen over a year ago. At that time, the film was to be directed by Rumi Jaffrey. Reveals a source. “She had even started taking diction classes, arranged by the producers.” Over the following months, things changed and the project became bigger and better. Tigmanshu Dhulia was roped in to write the film and Abhishek Sharma replaced Rumi as the film’s director. Nargis was overjoyed. The film is scheduled to go on floors in April this year. However, the makers were in for a rude shock a few days ago when Nargis asked them to revise her dates as she was being approached by Hollywood director Paul Feig for his new film.

A source reveals, “It was downright unprofessional on her part to ask the producers to change their schedules at the last minute. The producers called Nargis to their office for a meeting, during which she cried, and admitted that she didn’t want to lose the opportunity of doing a Hollywood film.” Nargis was candid enough to confess that being an American, acting in a Hollywood film would be her first priority. That was the last straw. The producers decided to drop her from the film that very day as her priority was not a lead role in a Bolly film but a bit part in a Hollywood movie. Abhishek confirms, “Yes, there were some last minute date issues from her side which we could not accommodate so we have decided to replace her.”

Losing Nargis turned out to be a blessing for the makers of Shaukeen. They are now in talks with Shraddha Kapoor and she has almost been finalised for the role. She has loved the script and dates are being worked out presently.

Nargis confirms about the development. “Unfortunately, Shaukeen got postponed by several months and there was another project in the pipeline that required my dates. I was very excited to be a part of the film, and we tried really hard to work the dates out, but couldn’t. I was really looking forward to working with Abhishek. He is a wonderful man and I hope I can work with him in the future.”