The official announcements had been made. The stage was set. Drishyam , the Hindi version, was set to return for a third and final part. But just days before filming was to begin, Akshaye Khanna exited the production. What happened between him and the makers remains a subject of speculation. But for writer-director Abhishek Pathak , it was a critical moment. Somehow, he and the team managed not only to find a replacement for Akshaye but also to rewrite the script and get it all ready in time. In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Abhishek recalls that chaotic week and justifies his decision not to push the shoot forward.
All that happened within 5-6 days,” the filmmaker recalls. I asked for 2-3 days to figure out if we could achieve it. Abhishek says the reason he didn’t cancel the shoot was that over 200 people were dependent on him and the film. We did two readings before I left for my shoot, and then he came 1-2 days before his shoot was supposed to start.
“I won’t say panic, but we were not happy with the whole idea. They have other big films lined up, and those directors won’t leave those dates for me. In December 2025, news emerged that Akshaye had left the film due to creative and monetary disagreements with the makers. Because it was all so last-minute, we both leaned on each other. Because abhishek felt it wasn’t landing well, jaideep’s intro scene was shot in Goa and later reshot in Mumbai.
The film was supposed to begin filming a week later, after Christmas. I thought, ‘Ye kya tareeka hua (What is this)?’” Jaideep Ahlawat was roped in as the replacement in just a couple of days. Abhishek rewrote parts of the script to accommodate the new character he would play. “He was kind of replacing a character that had been liked by the audience. I called him, and he asked me, ‘Casting change or character change? Then, he read it and found it fun. At that juncture, the film’s director decided not to push the shoot back. “The tough part was the call to continue, to just tell the team: ‘Hold on, don’t cancel anything. We will do it’. Bol to diya par ab karna bhi padega. “Set lag chuka tha (The set had been erected). We couldn’t cancel. There are so many people depending upon us to earn money. They have not taken any other jobs at this time. Everyone from the DOP to the production designers had locked their dates. People like light assistants and spot boys earn per day, and that would have all gone for a toss. That is not cool. Then, the dates we had were with combinations of so many actors. These are all big actors. I can’t suddenly tell them to give me dates later. So, we took that call,” he explains. “His first film, Aakrosh, was produced by dad (producer Kumar Mangat Pathak). But the filmmaker admits that it was an equally daunting task for the actor to come on board on such short notice. He explains, “To come at the last minute and blend into the character is something. It wasn’t as if he had six months to prepare and do workshops. He had a few days. He asked a few questions and read the script. He had a look test in Mumbai. For him to come and become a part of the film was challenging, but he did it beautifully. “It was last-minute writing, and I felt it could be better. “That last-minute pressure made the character beautiful. When you are under pressure, particularly for a franchise like Drishyam, where you have to meet certain benchmarks, it was a challenge,” the filmmaker adds.
Abhishek says that while there was no panic, the film’s team was unhappy with how it all played out. I told him I am changing the character. Likhna bhi tha (I had said it, but now I had to do it and rewrite things). We were seven days away from the shoot when we were to film his scene with Ajay (Devgn) sir,” he says. Abhishek says that he knew Jaideep Ahlawat only socially. We had met a few times,” he says. The filmmaker says Jaideep gave him the space to take these calls.
For him, it was a challenge entering a journey he wasn’t a part of earlier.
