Dristim 3 Writer-director Abhishek Pathak spoke about the challenging phase when Akshay Khanna left the film before the shooting began.

The makers had already officially announced the third and final installment Hindi version of visionAnd preparations for the shoot were underway. However, a few days before the shooting of the film began, Akshay Dropped out of the project. While the exact reason behind her departure is still unclear, her exit has put the makers in a tough spot.

Abhishek and his team had to find a replacement, make changes to the script and prepare everything without pushing back the shoot. talking with Hindustan Times, The director recalled the chaotic week and explained why he decided to stick to the original shooting schedule.

In December 2025, reports surfaced that Akshay had left the film due to creative and financial disagreements with the producers. The shooting was supposed to start a week after Christmas. Abhishek recalled that while the situation did not cause panic, the team was definitely unhappy with the way things turned out. “I wouldn’t say nervous, but we weren’t happy with the whole idea. I thought, ‘What kind of thing is this? (What is it)?” he said.

Abhishek then rewrote parts of the film that were originally written with Akshay in mind. Jaideep Ahlawat was later brought in to replace him.

Recalling how quickly everything came together, the filmmaker said, “He was changing a character that the audience loved. I called him, and he asked me, ‘Casting change or character change?’ I told him that I am changing the character. Then, he read it and found it amusing. All this was done in 5-6 days.

Abhishek had decided not to push back the shoot. “The hard part was the call to continue, just to tell the team: ‘Hang on, don’t cancel anything. We’ll do it’.” He said that now it has to be done on Diwa only. Also had to write (I said it, but now I have to do it and rewrite things). I asked for 2-3 days to find out if we can get it. We were seven days away from the shoot when we were supposed to shoot his scene with Ajay (Devgan) sir,” he said.

Abhishek said he did not cancel the shoot as more than 200 people depended on the film for work. The set was already ready, and the rescheduling would affect the crew as well as the actors, whose dates were already locked.

Dristim 3 Ajay Devgan, Shriya Saran, Tabu and Jaideep Ahlawat are in the lead roles. The project will hit theaters on October 2.

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