Priyadarshan on Kartik Aaryan, Sidharth Malhotra, Ayushmann Khurrana rejecting Hungama 2: "I don't blame them for refusing"

National Award-winning filmmaker Priyadarshan says he wasn’t offended when actors like Ayushmann Khurrana, Sidharth Malhotra and Kartik Aaryan refused to star in the sequel to his 2003 super hit comedy Hungama. The movie was eventually made with Meezan Jafri in the lead and is all set to release on Disney+ Hotstar later this month.

The filmmaker who had in an earlier interview, revealed that Hungama 2 was narrated to Kartik, Ayushmann and Sidharth tells The Quint that maybe the actors thought he’s ‘old school’.

"I don't face it in the South, because they know more about me. But here, I don't blame them for refusing, because if an actor doesn't feel confident about a director, they shouldn't do the film. Because then there will not be a comfortable interaction. Maybe these boys are more comfortable working with the new school; I belong to the old-school,” he told the publication.

Having said that the filmmaker further added that there may be a notion where actors believe that the old school filmmakers are not updated but dispelled it say that it is not true. "See, it's a question of, of course, they think that we don't update. But I keep updating everything... So if you ask me, the film Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea, which won the National Award for best feature of this year, so if I can win the National Award for best film of this year, I'm still good,” he said.

Hungama 2 happened 18 years after the original film starring Rimi Sen, Aksheye Khanna, Aftab Shivdasani and Paresh Rawal released. The new movie has no links to the original in its narrative and will mark the comeback of Shilpa Shetty in Bollywood after 14 years.

The film will release digitally on July 16.