Vijay Raaz claims he got fired from Son of Sardar 2 for 'not greeting Ajay Devgn'; producer says it was for 'expensive demands'

Vijay Raaz

The shoot of Ajay Devgn's 'Son of Sardaar 2' is currently going on in the UK. After Sanjay Dutt dropped out of the film due to visa issues, Vijay Raaz has been fired from the film. According to the producer Kumar Mangat, Raaz was removed due to his rude behaviour, expensive demands and lack of co-operation.

Talking to Pinkvilla, Kumar Mangat revealed that it was becoming difficult to deal with Raaz and hence they decided to remove him from the film. "Yes, its true that we have removed Vijay Raaz from the film because of his behaviour on the sets", he said.

The producer said that Raaz was making expensive demands including that his spot boy be paid Rs 20,000 per day. "He demanded for bigger rooms, vanity van and also overcharged us for the spot boys. His spot boy was being paid Rs 20,000 per night which is more than any big actor. UK is an expensive place, and everyone got standard rooms during the shoot, but he demanded premium suites. When we tried explaining the costing scenario to him, he refused to understand and spoke rudely. His constant response was, ‘You were the ones who approached me, I didn't come to you asking for work'. His behaviour kept getting worse. He demanded two cars for a three-person staff to travel," Mangat claimed.

However, Vijay Raaz had a different story to tell. He claimed that he was removed as he did not greet Ajay Devgn on first day of shoot. "I reached the location before time where actors Ravi Kishan, Executive Producer Ashish, producer Kumar Mangat and filmmaker Vijay Arora came to meet me. I stepped out of the van, and spotted Ajay Devgn, who was standing about 25 metres away from me. I didn't greet him as he was busy. Twenty five minutes later, Mr Mangat came to me and said, ‘You can leave the film, we are removing you'."

When asked about the demand for a bigger room, Raaz reasoned that he needed the space to do yoga in the morning. "26 years in the industry, can't I make this demand?" he questioned.

He added, "The only misconduct from my end is, I didn't greet Mr Ajay Devgn. I didn't even meet the crew, and these are the only people I interacted with. I was removed from the film 30 minutes of reaching the sets, as I didn't greet Ajay Devgn. These are powerful people, and the chatter of misconduct doesn't arise at all."

However, Kumar Mangat denied claims made by Raaz. He said that removing Raaz led to a loss of Rs 2 crore and they would never take such drastic steps for small matters. "His behaviour was a major area of concern," he insisted.

Mangat further revealed that a person from Raaz's team was also accused of sexual harassment by one of the hotel employees. "Imagine working with such a demon in the team. We got an official e-mail from the hotel. Strict action will be taken against all offenders. As I said, we are happy to disassociate with Vijay Raaz and we don't wish to work with such a person," he said.

Reacting to the sexual harassment matter, Raaz said that the producer was mixing up two different stories. "There is a difference of at least 10 hours between the two episodes. I was removed from the film on August 4 at 2 pm and the episode at the hotel took place at 11 pm on the same day. I have nothing to do with it. I am no longer working with the spot boy."

'Son Of Sardaar 2' is the sequel to the 2012 film 'Son of Sardaar' that starred Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha and Sanjay Dutt in the lead. The sequel will see Mrunal Thakur opposite Ajay Devgn. Sanjay Dutt has been replaced by Ravi Kishan and Sanjay Mishra has been casted as replacement for Vijay Raaz.