Delhi Belly Director Abhinay Deo On Imran Khan: He Told Me He Is Quitting Acting And I Was Taken Aback- EXCLUSIVE
Delhi belly director Abhinay Deo shares how he reacted on former actor Imran Khan choosing to pull back from his acting career
Imran Khan made an impressive debut in showbiz with his cute, innocent and powerful performance in Abbas Tyrewala’s coming-of-age romantic comedy Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, opposite Genelia Deshmukh. He became an instant heartthrob of the nation after that. Throughout his career, he gave some decent performances and successes like in I Hate Luv Stories, Delhi Belly, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. However, most of his career was marred with struggles and films that underperformed at the box-office.
The actor’s last film was six years ago opposite Kangana Ranaut in Nikkhil Advani’s Katti Batti. After that, he wasn’t seen on screen again. Last year in November, his friend and actor Akshay Oberoi officially confirmed that the actor has quit acting.
Tomorrow marks Delhi Belly’s 10 years since its release and its director Abhinay Deo shares that when he got to know about Imran’s decision, he felt bad. “I felt sad as I have high regard for that man. He is a great guy and there is anyway a shortage of good people in this world. He is one of the good guys and he should be there in this industry. He is a talented guy, whether in front of the camera or behind it. He is a trained filmmaker and a writer too. I feel he should get his creativity out in any form that he can. But I did feel bad that he did not want to act anymore,” he shares.
Abhinay goes on to reveal that Imran’s decision was kind of a few years in the making. “As a matter of fact, Imran refused a couple of my films because he said he was stopping acting and I was taken back a bit by that, otherwise he would have been a part of one of my films four years back. But he didn’t want to go down that route at all as he was reinventing himself. I think every person has a process and I am sure we will see some spectacular work from him in the future,” he concludes.
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