Mumbai: Director Anurag Kashyap whose Netflix film Choked got released on June 5, said that it was 'painfully difficult' to work with Abhay Deol in 2009's film Dev D.
In a recent interview with a leading portal, Anurag said, "It was painfully difficult to work with him. I don't really have great working memories with him. And haven't talked to him much since I finished shooting."
The director said that when they were making the film, Abhay was confused. "He wanted to do artistic movies but also wanted the mainstream benefits. The benefits and luxuries of being a 'Deol'. He would stay in a five-star hotel while the entire crew stayed in Paharganj for a film that was made on a very tight budget. Also the reason a lot of his directors went away from him."
Kashyap said that the actor didn't show up to promote the film when he was required to. "He wasn't there to promote Dev D. He dissed the film and crew a lot. He was gone a long time. It was because of something he was grappling with emotionally and personally and never talked about. He also felt betrayed by me about which he has never spoken to me ever." The filmmaker did, however, add that Abhay is a 'brilliant actor' who 'deserves more'.
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Abhay who won hearts with his remarkable performance in films like Socha Na Tha (2005), Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (2008) and others, fell off the radar and couldn't cash in on the popularity due to his cocky behaviour.
The actor has accepted that his nature was responsible for not getting him the kind of success he could have achieved in the industry. "I was too bullish on the success behind me. I deluded myself into thinking that now the big players would put their money on me and experiment. Maybe the very expectation that they’d see things my way was my arrogance." The actor added, "I could have played the game better. And I could have secured myself in a bigger manner. But I did not. And that was my choice. I don’t have any regrets."
Dev D was a modern-day adaptation of the classic Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Devdas.
