Amish Tripathi’s eighth book, Legend of Suheldev: King Who Saved India was a fan favourite. The author’s books have a loyal fan base in the country, with several looking forward to its cinematic adaptations. But things aren’t going as planned. Akshay Kumar had reportedly been approached to play the Hindu king, Suheldev in Ashwin Varde’s upcoming production. But according to Bollywood Hungama, Kumar has rejected the film over script and date concerns.

A source told Bollywood Hungama, “Ashwin flew down to Delhi in the first week of December to meet Akshay Kumar and had a detailed talk about his plans to make this film on a humongous scale. However, eventually, the actor felt that the script needed a lot of rework. After having discussions with Ashwin, he decided to take a backseat from the film as he was not on the same page with the stakeholders creatively. Apart from that, even dates were an issue as Akshay is blocked for the next 2 years and Ashwin and co were looking to start the film sometime next year, demanding over 70 days from Akshay. It was almost impossible for Akshay to accommodate the film in his jam-packed schedule.”

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Before Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn was first choice for the role of Suheldev, but he too stepped back from the film. The source further revealed that they were looking at senior actors, but will now expand their options to include the new lot of actors. “It’s a young character in the novel, and it was reworked keeping the age of senior actors in mind. However, now they will go back to the basics and set the original character sketch again to approach one of the gen-next superstars.”

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