Akshay on ‘TEPK’: It went to a lot of heroes, but nobody picked it up

Yesterday, the star cast of ‘Toilet – Ek Prem Katha’, Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar, Anupam Kher and Divyendu Sharma addressed a press conference to promote their movie. After talking to real life BMC officials and unveiling five dialogue promos from the movie, they were up for a media interaction. They addressed almost every controversy and every question posed by the media.

While interacting with the media, Akshay revealed how he got the movie and that’s when we discovered that he wasn’t the first choice for the lead role of Keshav. Said Akshay, “The writers brought the subject to me. I find it surprising that this script had been doing the rounds of the industry for over four years. It went to a lot of heroes, a lot of people but nobody picked it up. I liked it and I asked Neeraj Pandey with folded hands to give it to me. Earlier, the film was named ‘Sandaas Ek Prem Katha’ but later the title got changed.” (Also Read: Akshay Kumar reveals he was a victim of child abuse)

He further added, “This film is basically a love story. The toilet just forms the backdrop but the film is about the love story between Keshav and Jaya. It is based on a true story.”

He also spoke about the criticism that he garnered for glorifying stalking with a song ‘Hans Mat Pagli’. Akshay said, “It is just a character, and that’s it. In films there are many things that are shown, here my character, Keshav, was trying to take a photo of Bhumi’s character, Jaya. This is wrong, but I can’t show all the good things only, right?”

Taking about the movie getting leaked online, he said,  “Piracy nahi hui, galat baat hai, Crime Branch ne kuch hone se pehle hi use pakad liya tha. (There has been no piracy. Before anything could be published online, the Crime Branch stopped it) Nothing is there online, I would thank the Crime Branch for it.”

The movie is directed by Shree Narayan Singh and will be releasing on August 11, 2017.

Prajakta Ajgaonkar

Passionate about writing, and a Bollywood lover, she is all that is sweet and endearing! She desires to put her best foot forward in everything that she does and loves to help anyone who’s in need.