When Sunny Deol Blasted ‘Lajja’ Director Rajkumar Santoshi For Replacing Him With Ajay Devgn As He Claimed Of Never Making A High Salary Demand: “Please Ask Mr Santoshi Why He Threw Me Out”

Sunny Deol currently is enjoying undivided attention with Gadar 2 having a thunderous run at the Box Office. However he has been a superstar since the first day with his phenomenal debut with Betaab in 1983. He had a string of hits after his debut. But he caught Nation’s attention with his dream collaboration with director Rajkumar Santoshi. The actor-director duo first teamed up for Ghayal in 1990, which got the actor a Special Jury Award at National Film Awards in 1991.

Sunny and Santoshi next teamed up for the cult classic Damini in 1993. The film had the actor play a lawyer, and the courtroom drama struck a chord with the entire nation. His dialogue Tareekh Pe Tareekh was a major show-stealer and he won the National Award for the Best Supporting Actor for the film.

Their third collaboration was in 1996 with Ghatak. The film was again received with open arms and got the actor a Filmfare nomination. Though Sunny Deol did not win, Rajkumar Santoshi secured a Filmfare for Best Screenplay. They were considered as the lucky mascots for each other and had to work together in Rajkumar Santoshi’s film Lajja. But then came the epic rift which was created because of reasons best known to them.

The next thing everyone, including the media knew, was that Sunny Deol was no longer doing the film and Ajay Devgn replaced him in Lajja! During an interview with Filmfare after Gadar’s success, he was asked about Rajkumar Santoshi’s claims of Sunny backing out of Lajja even after his costumes were sorted.

Sunny Deol blasted Santoshi for the blatant lies and said, “Ummm, this is a new one. He didn’t even meet my designer. So how could my costumes have been ready? I was excited about doing Lajja, but please ask Mr Santoshi why he threw me out. As far as I know, the dates and remuneration had nothing to do with my exit from Lajja.”

The actor was further prodded if he would resolve his issues with his friend and he did not mince his word saying, “Rajkumar Santoshi is not my friend, he never was. I gave him a break as a director. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Interestingly after Sunny Deol and Rajkumar Santoshi parted ways, they both made films on Bhagat Singh. While Santoshi’s Bhagat Singh led by Ajay Devgn grabbed a National Award, Sunny’s Bhagat Singh starring Bobby Deol as the lead, directed by Guddu Dhanoa, was a miss.

For more such throwbacks, stay tuned to Koimoi.

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