Jaideep Ahlawat replaces Akshaye Khanna in ‘Drishyam 3’; legal notice sent to ‘Dhurandhar’ star
Mumbai (PTI): Film producer Kumar Mangat Pathak on Saturday said they’ve issued a legal notice to Akshaye Khanna for breach of agreement for the upcoming film, “Drishyam 3”, after the actor refused to be "part of the film via a text message".
Mangat Pathak said they had signed an agreement with Khanna last month for “Drishyam 3” and the actor was also given advance payment.
He further added that they decided to sign Jaideep Ahlawat on Friday as their shoot was getting affected.
Written and directed by Abhishek Pathak, the film is presented by Star Studio18. It is produced by Alok Jain, Ajit Andhare, Kumar Mangat Pathak and Abhishek.
“We were working on ‘Drishyam 3’ for two years and Akshaye was aware of this. We had narrated the entire script to him and he had liked it. Before signing the agreement, we negotiated on his acting fee thrice and only after it was okay for both of us, we signed the agreement and gave him the signing amount,” Mangat Pathak, who has earlier backed “Omkara”, “No Smoking”, and “Section 375”, told PTI.
Khanna and his team were approached for a comment. They are yet to respond to the producer's claim. Without disclosing the exact signing amount, Mangat Pathak said that he was given "whatever fees he had asked for", which is three times more than "Drishyam 2".
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"Drishyam 3" is headlined by Ajay Devgn, who plays the role of Vijay Salgaonkar, and Tabu is seen as former cop Meera Deshmukh.
In "Drishyam 2", Khanna essayed the role of IG Tarun Ahlawat who investigates the murder of Meera’s son Sam.
The producer said that Khanna signed the film only after long discussions on his looks.
“We also went a little back and forth for his look in the film, like he wanted to wear a wig and we told him that it would not look authentic if we suddenly gave his character a new look. He agreed to it and then we signed the agreement at his farmhouse in Alibaug, where he hugged Abhishek (director) and even said, ‘This is going to be a Rs. 500 crores film’,” the producer said.
“…But one day, he messaged saying, ‘I’m not doing the film’ and when he tried to reach out to him, he did not respond to calls and messages. His message came a day or two before the release of ‘Dhurandhar’,” he added.
He added that they were left with no other option but to take legal action, since Khanna had stopped responding to them.
“He didn’t respond to us when we sent him legal notice as he did not comply with the rules of the agreement. The notice was sent to him last week stating that, ‘You’ve to work according to the agreement and if you don't then we will file a case against you in the court’. It’s been a week he has not responded.
"We will be deciding on the next course of our action soon against him. We don’t know if the wig is the actual reason for not doing the film or was there something else. It’s a completely wrong thing that is happening,” he said.
“The work was also done on Akshaye’s look including his costumes, the filming for the movie too had begun from December 18 at YRF studios. He had given us dates till March. We are suffering losses because of him. Hence, we signed Jaideep,” he said.
Mangat Pathak, who has been working in the industry for close to five decades, described the chain of events as “disappointing”.
Having worked with Khanna on two of their films, “Aakrosh” and “Section 375”, the producer said they “never had any differences in the past”.
"He used to be a media shy person but today he is seen almost everywhere (on social media). We can clearly see there’s a paid campaign happening,” Mangat Pathak said, adding, it seems "the success of 'Dhurandhar' has gone to Khanna’s head".
The film is set to release in theatres on October 2, 2026.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
