Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; December 16, 2019)

In May, Neena Gupta had expressed her excitement about playing Akshay Kumar’s mother — a role that she described as far from “stereotypical” — in Sooryavanshi. However, mid-day has learnt that the actor and director Rohit Shetty parted ways professionally after a few weeks of shoot.

A source close to Gupta reveals, “After filming with her for few days, the makers realised that her track was not fitting seamlessly into the larger narrative. The story revolves around Akshay and Katrina’s characters, with the former essaying the role of a brave cop. When it was conveyed to Neena ji that her part wouldn’t be etched out as well as they had hoped, she understood the dilemma and bowed out of the film.”

One would assume that this would cause bad blood between Gupta and Shetty, but the actor understood his point of view. “She joked with Rohit that he will have to make up for this by offering her a role in his next.”