Chitrangada Singh has walked out of the Kushan Nandy directorial Babumoshai Bandookbaz. The actress, in an interview with SpotboyE.com, alleged that she was asked to wear skimpy clothes in an intimate scene with co-star Nawazuddin Siddiqui. “Initially, the scene demanded that Nawaz and I kiss. We had already shot an entire montage of scenes like that. Now, Kushan asked me to lie on top of Nawaz and here I was, only wearing a petticoat and blouse.”
The actress informed the director of her reservations. Director Kushan Nandy though persisted, “Didn’t you wear them in Desi Boyz?” To which the actress reportedly said, “I did that for an Akshay Kumar commercial flick where they took long shots of mine, you are making an art film and taking close-ups. Is this some fucking erotic shit?”
Following this, Kushan apparently kept insisting on a re-take of the intimate scene. “He was not happy with the first take. He said, Chitrangada, you ought to get literally on top of Nawaz. Tange ragdo, sex karo.”
Shocked at his crude language, the actress took Kushan to task for speaking to her in such a fashion in front of the crew. The director tried to make amends, but by then it was too late. Chitrangada walked off the Lucknow sets of the film and flew back home.
This though isn’t the only issue Ms. Singh has with the film. She says that there was constant interference in the filming process from Kushan Nandy’s business partner Kiran Shroff. “That woman decided almost everything on the set, even the nose ring that I wore. She takes the final call on clothes too. She interfered in the intimate scene and said that she wants a long kiss between Nawaz and me. I couldn’t take it lying down and I asked them who was the director, Kushan or Kiran? Kushan became embarrassed and asked her to leave.”
This wasn’t always the case, though. Chitrangada remembers a time when she was close with Kushan. “Kushan and I were so good with each other before we started the Lucknow schedule. I stood by him when the film ran into rough weather in West Bengal last year. Some payments have still not been made on that front. I even got to know that the think tank of the film felt that I shouldn’t have been told what they were expecting me to wear, but rather given the outfits only an hour or two before the shoots. Oh, why were they so fishy?”
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Reacting to reports that she was still trying to get back into the project, she said, “Not at all. In fact, Nawaz called me when I was headed to the airport. He asked me to return. And do you know what I told him? I told him: Speak to Kushan and if he sees my viewpoint, I am still 30 minutes away from the airport and ready to come back. But Kushan did not revert.”
Kiran Shroff has denied the actress’ claims. “Blatant lies. These allegations are false. Chitrangda was continuously arguing on the scenes. We don’t make erotic films. Directors get involved in their scenes and exaggerate a bit to get the best out of their actors. Chitrangada was not performing well, the film was suffering and we asked her to leave. She has too much attitude and not only wanted changes in the script but even reported late on the sets.”
Reports indicate that Swara Bhaskar has been approached to replace Chitrangda in the film. We hear that the actress has, however, refused the part.