Akshaye Khanna has been boiling in controversy since his exit from Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam 3. Now, writer-filmmaker Manish Gupta, who worked with Khanna on the film Section 375, called out the Bollywood actor for making unreasonable demands on set. Gupta also claimed that Khanna wanted full control over the project. Read on for more details!
Manish Gupta slams Akshaye Khanna
Akshaye Khanna shared the screen with Richa Chadda in the 2019 legal thriller, Section 375. In an interview, the film’s writer, Manish Gupta, opened up about his bad experience of working with Khanna. Gupta stated that after signing the film’s contract, agreeing on the fees, giving dates, and receiving an advance, Khanna left them stranded for six months to film another project, The Accidental Prime Minister.
When the Dhurandhar star came back, he demanded Rs 3.25 crores as opposed to the Rs 2 crores fees that they had earlier agreed upon. “Akshaye’s unreasonable demands did not end here,” Gupta told Bollywood Hungama, adding that the actor also insisted on having full control of the film.
At that time, Gupta was also directing the movie. Hence, he didn’t give up on Khanna’s demands and stood up to his behaviour. “Since it was hurting Akshaye’s ego to take orders from an authoritarian director like me, he started pestering the producer Kumar Mangat Pathak to remove me as the director of the film and give the complete control of the film to him,” revealed Manish Gupta.
Later, the producer gave up to Khanna’s demand, and Gupta was replaced by Ajay Bahl as the film’s director. Since Gupta’s fully written bound script and hard drive containing three years of his hard work on the pre-production were seized, he sent two legal notices to producer Kumar Mangat.
Gupta was heartbroken with the way Khanna behaved with him, owing to the fact that the actor returned to films with his movie Section 375. “Akshaye is no doubt a brilliant actor. I am only pointing out his lack of ethics,” concludes Manish Gupta.
On the work front, Akshaye Khanna will be next seen in Dhurandhar 2, releasing on March 19, 2026.
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