Salman Khan has a snarky response to Priyanka Chopra exiting Bharat, watch video

Salman Khan had a retort at the ready when he was asked the inevitable question about Priyanka Chopra’s abrupt exit from Bharat, and the rumours of a rift between the two actors. Salman was promoting Loveratri.

Salman Khan was inevitably asked about his former Bharat co-star Priyanka Chopra’s abrupt exit from the film during the Delhi trailer launch event for Loveratri, the latest film by his production house, starring his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma. Salman had a reply at the ready, despite no one breaching the topic at the Mumbai trailer launch event.

Actor Salman Khan at the trailer launch of his upcoming film Loveratri in Mumbai. (IANS)

“I haven’t read the newspaper in the last few days, when I do, I will have an answer for you,” Salman said, adding that he has been busy with Loveratri’s promotions lately. It has long been rumoured that Salman is miffed at Priyanka for bailing on the film, which recently completed its first shooting schedule, according to director Ali Abbas Zafar.

It was Zafar who broke the news of Priyanka’s exit. He wished her all the best for the future and his tongue-in-cheek message made no mention of any bad blood between the actors. He even revealed that the reason for her exit could be her engagement to singer Nick Jonas. Ali Abbas wrote that the reason why Priyanka left Bharat is “very, very special” and she informed them just in “the Nick of time”.

Salman’s father, lyricist Salim Khan, in an interview said that Priyanka could be easily replaced. “It’s okay whatever happened. Priyanka is not doing Bharat, let her be. Such things happen in our industry,” he told SpotboyE. “Nope, it’s not the nth hour. And I repeat, such things happen- sometimes they happen for date issues, or the role, or even the money aspect. Aur kabhi aadmi ki kuch apni majbooriyan hoti hai. I haven’t yet got into the details of why Priyanka left Bharat, but we shall soon cast someone else. We are not upset with Priyanka. Salman Khan is also not upset,” he added.

SpotboyE also reported that Salman and Priyanka’s mother and producing partner, Madhu Chopra, avoided meeting each other at Manish Malhotra’s recent fashion show. When asked about the rift, Madhu said, “I don’t know if Salman is upset or not, please ask him but yes Priyanka has exited Bharat.”

Katrina Kaif, who starred opposite Salman in Tiger Zinda Hai most recently, was quickly roped in as a replacement.

“Katrina is a very big superstar and I’ve worked closely with her in two films. I shared the [Bharat] script with her and she liked the role,” Zafar told Hindustan Times. “We’re thankful that we had some time in hand. I think Katrina is our best choice, and I’m thankful that she could accommodate [this film] in the middle of whatever she was doing,” says the director.

Nikhil Namit, CEO, Reel Life Productions, had told Mid-Day that he is unhappy with Priyanka’s decision to quit the film on such short notice. “Priyanka told us she had to exit due to her engagement, two days ago. It was a little unprofessional of her to do it so suddenly,” he said.

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