Abhishek Banerjee, who is currently in the spotlight for his performances in Stree 2 and Vedaa, recently shared an interesting anecdote from his earlier career as a casting director. In a candid interview with Siddharth Kannan, Abhishek revealed that he was removed from the casting process of the film Agneepath, produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.
Abhishek Banerjee recalled that Karan Johar was unhappy with the casting choices, as they were bringing in actors reminiscent of Anurag Kashyap’s style, which did not align with the vision for the film.
He said,
“Agneepath se humein nikaal diya tha. Agneepath ki casting hum log kar rahe the baad mein Jogi bhai aaye. Kyu nikal di kyuki woh casting unko pasand nahi aayi, Karan sir ko pasand nahi aayi. Hum log kuch zyada hi Anurag Kashyap-waale actors la rahe the jo unhe pasand nahi aya. Toh unhone bola, ‘Nikal jao humari film se!’ Hume laga career barbaad, khatam! Dharma se nikal gaye ab ho gaya! But thankfully bach gaye (We were fired from Agneepath. We were casting for Agneepath, it was then taken over by Jogi (Mallang) bhai. Why were we removed? Because Karan sir didn’t like our casting. We were casting Anurag Kashyap-type actors. He didn’t like it and said, get out of our film. We thought our career was over because we were thrown out of Dharma Productions. But thankfully, we survived).”
Despite this setback, Abhishek has found success as an actor, with his recent films Stree 2 and Vedaa receiving positive responses. Agneepath, a remake of the Amitabh Bachchan classic, was released in 2012. Directed by Karan Malhotra, the film starred Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Rishi Kapoor, and Sanjay Dutt, and was both critically acclaimed and a box office hit.
Abhishek’s performance in Stree 2 has been particularly praised, and the film continues to perform well both in India and internationally, grossing over ₹125 crore globally
