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NOT ENOUGH FIREPOWER
Puri Jagannath drops Abhishek Bachchan from his next Hindi venture. Hyderabad Times tells you why...
Amrapali Sharma
Director Puri Jagannath's Telugu film "Businessman", starring Mahesh Babu, is up for release next week. And we have learnt that before the original could hit the theatres, the director has decided to drop Abhishek Bachchan from the film's Hindi remake — a project that had been planned in August 2011.
Puri Jagannath had earlier decided to cast Bachchan Jr in the lead role of a gangster who treats his work like an organized business. However, now the filmmaker has decided to drop the idea of casting the actor altogether. In fact, Puri, who had worked with Amitabh Bachchan in "Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap", has decided to replace Abhishek with Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu.
Confirming the news, Puri said, "After looking at Abhishek's recent track record, we realized it won't be in favour of the film. He doesn't have enough fire that the movie demands. I want to cast Mahesh Babu in the remake now. Though Mahesh is not too fluent with Hindi, it shouldn't be a problem considering his increasing popularity."
The filmmaker's decision comes in wake of his contractual problems with AB Corp, the co-producer of "Bbuddah..." Post the release of the film, the co-producers stopped answering Puri's calls regarding the delivery of his contract. Though the documents were posted to the filmmaker a day after the news appeared, the entire episode left Puri with a bitter experience. "That was also another thing that put me off. Though I am still a big fan of Mr Bachchan, the post-release experience was bad," added Puri.
When contacted, Mahesh Babu's manager said, "Yes, we have discussed the Hindi remake with Puri. But right now, we are focusing on the original version."
Mahesh Babu
Abhishek Bachchan
