Why Anurag Kashyap hated Arjun Rampal and tried to sabotage his career

Actor Arjun Rampal, who’s a former student of Hindu College, shares why director Anurag Kashyap hated him for seven years and tried to sabotage his career

Remember when director Anurag Kashyap accused Arjun Rampal of ‘stealing’ the girl he liked? To which the actor has retorted that it was “all in Kashyap’s mind”.

Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal (L) and Director Anurag Kashyap liked the same girl in college because of which Anurag hated Arjun for seven years(Amal KS and Manoj Verma/HT Photo)

Earlier, Kashyap had told us, “I liked this girl, and next day I see Arjun dating her. I was angry. So years later, when Ram Gopal Varma told me that he wanted to cast Arjun in Mast (1999), I told him that Arjun’s a bad actor. That’s how the film went to Aftab Shivdasani.”

“Apparently, he had a crush on her and he made up in his mind that he was dating her and that I took his girlfriend away from him. Maybe that’s why he started making such dark films after that.”

In an earlier interview with HT City, Kashyap also said that “we all hated him because he took all our girlfriends away!”

Arjun was in Delhi on Tuesday and we asked the actor how true Kashyap’s allegations were, and if a girl actually ditched the filmmaker for him. “If I were the girl, I would do the same,” Arjun quipped.

Explaining his version of the incident, the actor told us, “I was dating this girl from Miranda. Apparently, Kashyap had a crush on her too, and he made up in his mind that he was dating her and that I took his girlfriend away from him.”

He continued, “Maybe that’s why he started making such dark films afterwards. But anyway, whatever he tried turned out to be positive for me ... because I never wanted to be cast in Mast. God bless, Anurag. I do hope that nothing like this happens with him. And the next time, I’ll call him up and ask if I can date somebody in case he has a crush on that girl too!”