Nikitin Dheer, the man who gave us the unforgettable Thangaballi in Chennai Express, recently opened up about his less-than-stellar experience working on the epic period drama Jodhaa Akbar. The film, which boasted Bollywood bigwigs Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, was directed by the acclaimed Ashutosh Gowariker. While it might have been a cinematic masterpiece for us, for Nikitin, it was a nightmare he nearly quit acting over!
Here’s why Nikitin Dheer regrets his decision of working in Hrithik Roshan starrer “Jodhaa Akbar”
In a candid chat on Siddharth Kannan’s YouTube channel, Nikitin Dheer didn’t hold back about the frustration and anger he felt during the making of Jodhaa Akbar. Imagine working tirelessly on a project, only to feel utterly disillusioned by the end of it. That’s exactly what happened to him, and he shared how it almost made him walk away from the acting world for good.
“I worked very hard for the film, but things began going south after I signed on,” Nikitin revealed. “As an artist, I didn’t have fun working on the film. It was a very bad experience for me, to the point that I told my father that I’d entered the wrong line and that I’d rethink my life.” Ouch! His father, veteran actor Pankaj Dheer, chose not to intervene despite being friends with Gowariker. Pankaj believed Nikitin needed to tackle his professional battles solo.
Nikitin shared a particularly maddening incident: “I worked on my physique for the film, I trained for months in Urdu. I shot for more than 100 days. For example, I specially flew back from Istanbul to dub for the film. I must’ve made 90 phone calls to figure out what the plan is, but nobody from the production answered my calls. On the third day, I was supposed to return to Istanbul, and that’s when I’m told that they’ve got somebody else to dub my part. It made me very angry. And there are so many incidents like this.”
When rumors floated about Gowariker being upset with him for signing another film, Nikitin debunked them. “I changed my look after finishing work on Jodhaa Akbar, and I started shooting for Mission Istanbul only after I was done with Jodhaa Akbar, so I haven’t heard this theory before. It’s important for an actor to keep moving from film to film, especially if you’re the villain, because there are no guarantees.”
Nikitin felt let down by the project: “There were a lot of things that I’d been led to believe would happen, but during the shoot, I realised that it wasn’t going according to what I’d imagined.” This revelation is a stark reminder that the glamorous facade of Bollywood often hides the gritty realities actors face.
Despite the setbacks, he continues to carve out his niche in the industry, proving that resilience is key in the world of showbiz.
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