Jaideep Ahlawat on his Drishyam role: 'Not a replacement for Akshaye Khanna'

Dubai: Jaideep Ahlawat has addressed months of speculation over his role in Drishyam: The Conclusion, insisting his character has no connection to the one Akshaye Khanna played in Drishyam 2.

Khanna's exit from the film became a public controversy in December, when producer Kumar Mangat Pathak said the actor had wanted to renegotiate his fee following the success of Dhurandhar, which the producer said led to a breakdown between them. Ahlawat was subsequently confirmed as a new addition to the cast, and many assumed he was stepping directly into the role Khanna had vacated.

What Ahlawat said

Speaking at the trailer launch in Goa on Tuesday, Ahlawat rejected that reading outright.

"When I read the story, it was nowhere mentioned or said that he was a replacement to Akshaye Khanna," he said. "One character's journey ends and another character's journey starts. I won't benefit from taking pressure from that character. There is no comparison for me as an actor because the journey is going to be completely new, the introduction is going to be new and so is the relationship with Meera. My character is going to have a very individualistic approach. Hence, there was no pressure. My character isn't existing because of someone else, but has his own journey. They have written it very well."

His character has since been described as a sharp, highly determined police officer leading a renewed investigation into Vijay Salgaonkar, the role played across the franchise by Ajay Devgn.

Director Abhishek Pathak made the same point in December, telling Bombay Times at the time: "I am writing a new character."

The wider trailer reveal

The trailer, released Wednesday, brought a further cast addition beyond Ahlawat. Prakash Raj has also joined the film in a new role, alongside Tabu, who returns as Meera Deshmukh.

Devgn, promoting the trailer, explained how the story avoids retreading the first two films. "The case couldn't be solved by the police so we had to move on. We have made the threat bigger, and now the crime branch has entered to solve the case. This will avoid repetition. The approach of the investigation changes. That is what the film is about and that is what is done," he said.

The film is officially titled Drishyam: The Conclusion and is being positioned as the final chapter of the Hindi adaptation franchise, which began with Drishyam in 2015 and continued with Drishyam 2 in 2022.

How Devgn handled the Khanna exit

Asked how Devgn had responded to the controversy, Pathak kept his answer brief. "Ajay left it to me completely. Anyway, it's more about me, Akshaye, and the production. So, I would rather leave that aspect of how we dealt with it out," he said.

What Kumar Mangat said about Khanna

The dispute escalated in December when Mangat told Bollywood Hungama he had sent Khanna a legal notice over losses he attributed to the actor's conduct, and described him in strong terms.

"I have suffered losses because of his behaviour. I am going to take legal action. I have already sent him a legal notice; he's yet to reply to it," Mangat said, before going further: "There was a time when Akshaye was nothing. That's when I made Section 375 with him. Even then, so many people told us not to work with him because of his unprofessional behaviour. His energy on set is absolutely toxic. Section 375 got him recognition. Later, I signed him in Drishyam 2. He has got all the big offers only after Drishyam 2. Uske pehle woh 3-4 saal tak ghar pe baitha hua tha," meaning Khanna had been out of work for three to four years before that film.

Khanna has not publicly responded to the legal notice. Since Drishyam 2, he has had a strong run, appearing in Chhaava and Dhurandhar, both among the highest-grossing Indian films of 2025, and is next set to make his Tollywood debut in the superhero film Mahakali.

Release details

Drishyam: The Conclusion opens in cinemas on 2 October, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti. It follows Drishyam 3, the Malayalam original starring Mohanlal, which released worldwide in May and became one of the year's biggest Malayalam hits.