It was recently that actor Nushrratt Bharuccha, who was promoting her latest film Chhorii 2, spoke about the uncertainties of the business. While talking about the same, the actor mentioned the time she was replaced in the sequel of a hit film, in which she had led the first part. While the entire cast remained the same, only she was replaced by a new girl. The internet was quick to confirm that the movie was Dream Girl 2. While the first part starred Nushrratt alongside Ayushmann Khurrana, the second had Ananya Panday alongside the Vicky Donor fame.
Turns out, Dream Girl filmmaker Raaj Shaandilyaa has now spoken about the same and said there was a reason why Nushrratt was not cast in the second film. In an interview with TOI, Raaj Shaandilyaa, the writer-director of Dream Girl 2, revealed why Ayushmann Khurrana, Manjot Singh, and Annu Kapoor were retained in the sequel but Nushrratt Bharuccha was replaced by Ananya Panday. He revealed how it is a franchise film and not a direct sequel, and that the first film was a complete story that ended with the two leading characters uniting.
Why Nushrratt was replaced in Dream Girl 2?
He said, “Dream Girl 2 was not a sequel, but a franchise film. If it were a sequel, then Nushrratt would have been cast in the film. Dream Girl’s story ended when Ayushmann and Nushrratt’s characters united. We wanted to narrate a different story, so we carried the plot forward with the core characters played by Ayushmann, Manjot, and Annu Kapoor, and cast Ananya in it.”
Adding how he had given Nushrratt Bharuccha the same reason, Raaj Shaandilyaa said, “Nushrratt once asked me why she wasn’t part of Dream Girl 2, and I gave her the same explanation. I told her that, according to the story, we wanted a new girl. There’s no room for disappointment because jab hum third part banayenge, we’ll cast a new girl in it. Usme Ananya nahi hogi, koi aur hogi.”
Nushrratt Bharuccha on being replaced by Ananya Panday in Dream Girl 2
In an interview with Nayandeep Rakshit, Nushrratt spoke about being replaced in Dream Girl 2. She did not take the name of the film or Ananya Panday, but it was clear that she was indeed talking about the Ayushmann Khurrana starrer. She said, “It hurt me even more when I was not a part of my own sequel. Every other actor was the same, except the girl, which I felt was not cool na, guys? Theek hai, no problem. I can’t fight something I know is not going to change. What do I fight? They’ll say, ‘We don’t want you.’ That’s the truth of it. Eventually, it’s a choice somebody’s making. I cannot question your choice.”
