EXCLUSIVE: Here is why Rajkummar Rao was replaced from Deepika Padukone’s ‘Chhapak’ last minute

We had earlier told you that Meghna Gulzar and Deepika Padukone who are co-producing a film together, had approached Rajkummar Rao for the male lead’s part. Ayushmann Khurrana too was in talks for the same role but the first-time producer heroine wanted Raj to add more power to the cast.

The role, as we had mentioned, isn’t a full fledged one but that of DP’s love interest. Deepika plays acid attack survivor Lakshmi in the biopic which has now been titled ‘Chhapak’. But now, Raj has been replaced, by Vikrant Massey. In fact, the versatile hero had to opt out of the film.

It is said that there were several date issues because Raj has a plethora of movies that he has signed on already. So managing dates from January end was a trouble.

But according to our exclusive sources, the issue was something else altogether. Raj required only 20-days of shoot in total and the team wanted to wrap the film in a start-to-finish schedule of around 45 days flat. Raj demanded a price as high as Rs 3 crore for the small extended role and the producers had to choose someone who would come for a much lesser budget to make sure they don’t go over-budget on the project. Hence, discussions with Raj had come to a standstill and he soon realised that he was definitely not getting the price he started asking for!

Also Read: Not Rajkummar Rao but this actor will star opposite Deepika Padukone in Laxmi Agarwal biopic