Vidya Balan Recalls Akshaye Khanna's Reaction After She Rejected Film With Him: ‘Fired Me…'
Vidya Balan opened up on turning down a film opposite Akshaye Khanna, and what happened after she faced him later while shooting for Salaam-E-Ishq.
Bollywood actress Vidya Balan recently shared an anecdote from her early acting days, and recalled rejecting a film opposite Akshaye Khanna. She said that she did not connect with the script, and asked her manager to convey the message instead of informing Akshaye directly. Later, Vidya met Akshaye on the sets of the 2007 film 'Salaam-e-Ishq', and revealed his reaction to her rejecting the film opposite him. She jokingly added that she asked her Salaam-e-Ishq co-star John Abraham to 'save' her, and later realized that Akshay was only pulling her leg.
At Bollywood Hungama Style Icons Summit, Vidya Balan said, 'There was a film offered to me opposite Akshaye Khanna, and for some reason, I didn't connect with the script. But I didn't pick up the phone and tell him that. I asked my manager to convey it to the director." She further added, 'And then I met Akshaye on the sets of Salaam-E-Ishq. And he fired me. He was like 'why didn't you tell me you didn't want to do the film?' I went up to John and said, 'Can you please save me?' (laughs). Because I was so new, I didn't want any confrontation. I didn't want to hurt anyone or make anyone feel bad, or just feel like I was refusing a film with them. But of course, he was only pulling my leg. I later realized."
The actress acknowledged that nobody likes to hear 'no,' especially considering the significant time and effort put into creating a script. In a sincere admission, Balan mentioned that being married to a producer has deepened her understanding of this even more. Speaking about the same, Vidya expressed, 'I'm not a rude person. I say it as it is, but I am aware of how much efforts go into developing a script and I value it."
On the work front, Vidya Balan was last seen in Anees Bazmee's horror-comedy film 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3' alongside Kartik Aaryan, Madhuri Dixit and Triptii Dimri. The film was was theatrically released on 1 November 2024.
First Published:
June 06, 2025, 11:05 IST
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