Kartik Aaryan’s exit from Karan Johar’s Dostana 2 caused a whirlwind of speculations between fans and netizens.
Both sides have a lot to say on the matter and here is what we hear the real reason is.
As mentioned in a KoiMoi report, a source reveals, “Kartik Aaryan had come on board Dostana 2 in 2019 for a minimal amount of Rs. 2-3 crores, and at present his market value is upside of Rs. 10 crores. At first, he asked Karan for a hike in his acting fees mid-way as his market value had gone up big time in the last two years. While Karan believed it was unprofessional on Kartik’s part to renegotiate the remuneration mid-way, he tried to compensate him with another film, Mr Lele. Kartik also agreed to come on board the said film and was all charged up for a quirky ride. But to his surprise, he found himself replaced all of a sudden by Vicky Kaushal without being notified. Kartik was also upset with Dharma Productions when they gave Shashank Khaitan’s Yoddha to Shahid Kapoor.“
Apparently, Karan had also offered Kartik another film which is a cricket story directed by Sharan Sharma. In order to avoid being expelled from the film, Kartik asked Karan to execute and sign a contract with him. “Meanwhile, Kartik continued giving reasons of the Covid 19 pandemic to not start shoot for Dostana 2 and Karan didn’t push him much either given their relationship. But when he shot for Dhamaka, Karan was upset. They had an indoor meeting where Karan expressed his disappointment,” the source continued.
The next issue reportedly took place when Kartik was adamant on commencing shoot for Dostana 2 only after singing the Sharan Sharma directorial. “Karan felt there was a total lack of trust and couldn’t commit to the film until the script and screenplay were locked.”
Amidst all this, Johar’s Mr Lele with Vicky Kaushal and Janhvi Kapoor had seemingly gone on floors. Once Aaryan found out, he changed his dates for Dostana 2 saying availability was only from April. The new change made it inconvenient for Janhvi Kapoor which would then need her to pick between Dostana 2 and Mr Lele.
The source finally adds, “Karan felt it was unprofessional on Kartik’s end to arm-twist, and this finally led to a big fall out between the two, with things going ugly. Kartik on the other hand felt he was horribly underpaid for the job, as he was definitely the biggest selling point of the film and Karan was not keeping up his promise of a second film. Kartik also developed some issues with Janhvi Kapoor, due to their break up and it all culminated into a big fight, with money, like always coming in the centre. All issues might have been resolved, but unprofessionalism took things to a different tangent and Karan was left with no choice but to oust him from Dostana 2.”