The Kaartik Aaryan controversy refuses to die down ever since the actor was ousted from the Karan Johar production, ‘Dostana 2’ in April.
A day after Anubhav Sinha spoke up in defense of Aaryan, while objecting to a Bollywood campaign against the young actor, film editor and writer Apurva Asrani also took to Twitter to credit the filmmaker for calling this out.
“I respect Anubhav Sinha for calling out the very obvious campaign against #KartikAaryan. A year ago I had blogged about the bullying Sushant Singh Rajput went through. And though I remain blacklisted for it by many journalists, I feel like something IS changing for the better,” Asrani tweeted.
Asrani had spoken out against nepotism and Bollywood camps last year following the tragic death of Rajput on June 14, who was found hanging in his Mumbai apartment.
A day earlier, Sinha took objection to the manner with which Aaryan appeared to be treated in the industry ever since he was dropped from ‘Dostana 2’. “And by the way... when Producers drop Actors or vice versa they don’t talk about it. It happens all the time. This campaign against Kartik Aaryan seems concerted to me and very bloody unfair. I respect his quiet.”
In April, Johar’s Dharma Productions officially announced that Aaryan would no longer feature in their upcoming production, which also starred Janhvi Kapoor in the lead. Aaryan had reportedly already shot for 20 days before the news broke. “Due to professional circumstances, on which we have decided to maintain a dignified silence — we will be recasting Dostana 2, directed by Collin D’Cunha. Please wait for the official announcement soon,” the announcement from Dharma Productions read.
In the aftermath, it was reported last month that Aaryan had subsequently been dropped from the Shah Rukh Khan produced ‘Freddie’ as well, followed by another project by Anand L Rai that has now been given to Aayshmann Khurrana. While Khan’s Red Chilli Productions have yet to make a statement, Rai has rubbished the story, with a spokesperson saying: “These are baseless rumours. We’ve met Kartik for a different film and we’re still talking. We’ve taken another film altogether to Ayushmann and this is a complete mix-up.”
Through it all, Aaryan has maintained a dignified silence. However, fans of the actor have taken to social media drawing parallels between Aaryan and Rajput, who, as Bollywood outsiders, attempted to make a mark in the film industry that is peppered with star kids who hail from long acting dynasties.