MUMBAI: Winner of reality show Bigg Boss, Rahul Roy has been replaced by another actor in a Punjabi film, for upping his fees after signing on the dotted line.
Reliable sources say Roy was signed on for a Punjabi film Watana To Door (Away from the homeland) for Rs 250,000 and was even given an advance of Rs 50,000. However, Roy allegedly demanded a hike once the film went on the floors.
Sources say Roy now wants to be paid Rs 1.5 million (Rs 15 lakh) for the film. The producer, unwilling to bow to Roy’s demand, has replaced the actor with Gursewak Mann (singer Harbhajan Mann’s brother). Roy is yet to return the advance of Rs 50,000 given to him, sources allege, and has asked the producer to adjust the amount in the next project that he has agreed to do for them.
Watana To Door, a saga of three friends who travel abroad, is being produced by Gaurav Sethi and directed by Rajan Layalpuri, who is also a cinematographer. The cast includes Awinash Wadhawan, Vivek Shouq, Abhhay Bhaargava, Ekta Trivedi, Sarhan Singh, Raza Murad, Aroon Bakshi, Upasana Singh, Teena Ghai, Sandeep Kaur, Shreya and Kiran Bhargav.
Says Layalpuri, “Rahul Roy is no longer in the film. There were certain issues, so we decided to go ahead with the project without him.”
It is learnt that he had been signed on for the film in August 2006. The shoot schedule had to be delayed due to Roy’s participation in the Sony reality show Bigg Boss. “We only shot for eight days; so we can manage without him. We had lined up our shoot schedule in Himachal Padesh from 14 March, and another stint later in Austria. Now after waiting all this while for him, we have to go without him,” adds Layalpuri.
The film’s music director Ali Gani has already recorded a song in the voices of Gursewak Mann and Jaspinder Narula, which goes, “Assa Dil nal dil nu vata leya , Pyar Soniye ni tere naal pa liya.”
