Priyanka Chopra started off her career with
Sunny Deol
in ‘The Hero: Love Story Of A Spy’. The film had released in 2003, post which, Priyanka had movies like ‘Aitraaz’ and ‘Mujhse Shadi Karogi’ which got her to fame! The actress was a part of a film called ‘
Yakeen
‘, opposite
Arjun Rampal
. But did you know that model-turned-actor Rajneish Duggal was the first choice for it? However, he was removed from the movie because he was a new comer and Priyanka had become a star by them.
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Rajniesh has revealed, “I was the first choice for Yakeen, I was signed for the film.
In fact, I was working on it. When I met director Girish Dhamija, he asked me, ‘When can you move to Mumbai?’ I was already planning to move to Mumbai. So, I got training from Girish ji himself; he is an alumnus of the National School of Drama and a dialect coach.”
As he was being launched, the producer of the movie gave him a penthouse in Juhu, a car and a cook. The actor underwent training for around 2-3 months. “They signed a three-film deal with me. I had a double role in the film with Priyanka as the lead. They put me in a penthouse at Juhu 10th Road. They gave me a car and a driver. One call and a person would bring food to my flat. I was going to classes and fully preparing. I prepared for 2-2.5 months. I left brand endorsements of Siyaram, Vimal, and other companies to concentrate on the film,” added the actor.
However, he was removed from the movie overnight. Rajniesh added, “Suddenly, the producer, Sujit Kumar Singh, called me to his office at night. He told me that Priyanka has become a big star in the time span since they had signed me and they had paid her for the bulk deal, now she is saying ‘I will not work with a newcomer.’ My first reaction was that change the girl because I only saw them putting money on me. I didn’t understand movie business at that time.”
Now in retrospect, Rajniesh doesn’t blame PC. He added, “They said Priyanka wanted that, but I feel it could have been the managers or the people around her. I don’t blame her, but she was aware that I was doing the film. She could have said, ‘No, he will do it.’”
