Jolly LLB (2013) was a delightful watch. Starring Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani, the film wasn’t a huge hit but it got good reviews, two National Awards and was a moderate success. Jolly LLB also got director Subhash Kapoor to be in contention to carry on the Munna Bhai series, if filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani chose not to make the next one.
However surprisingly, when the sequel to Jolly LLB was announced recently, the cast was headed by Akshay Kumar. Despite an awesome performance in the original, Arshad Warsi was out of the sequel simply because he wasn’t saleable enough.
Reacting to the development, Arshad candidly told IANS that:
Arshad’s statement just confirms Bollywood’s worst kept secret, it’s never the idea, script or director who gets priority in this industry. No matter what a studio or production house chooses to say in public to be perceived as a ‘creative’ enterprise, it’s a system that’s run merely on star power.
While it is understandable that filmmaking is a profit making business, what’s shocking is that a studio would let their profit and loss sheet dictate and alter the cast of an ALREADY successful original film.
Arshad also added that it was he who convinced director Kapoor to go ahead with Akshay Kumar as the new Jolly, “I said Akshay is a damn good actor as he has the capability of converting him (Akshay) from a muscular macho man to an ordinary man to get beaten up and it will work like magic with Akshay, Subhash also gets a bigger budget. He gets more money to work and life becomes easier for him,” said the actor.
That said, fans of the original including me will definitely miss the fantastic actor that Arshad is in the sequel.
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