Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra’s on-screen chemistry has often been spoken about. There were also rumours of their relationship off screen. They were cast together for ‘Barsaat’ but Akshay reportedly had a problem with Priyanka in the film. While neither Akshay or Priyanka have ever spoken about it, in a recent interview, producer Suneel Darshan revisited that phase and narrated an incident where he was forced to pick between the two stars.Asked about his bond with Priyanka and Akshay and what truly unfolded back then, Darshan remembered a time when the actors had no hesitation working together. He said, “They were doing well and they were quite comfortable with each other. They did films like ‘Aitraaz’ together, which actually Priyanka didn’t want to do. She came to me and said that she has been given the role of the vamp. I checked out the script and realised that she has the most important role in the film. I called her back to my office and told her to immediately sign the film.”He then moved to the period when things soured, during the making of ‘Barsaat’ (2005), which was initially planned with Akshay in the lead. Darshan explained, “Her (Priyanka) career was going forward and I was making ‘Barsaat’ with Akshay, which also had Priyanka and Katrina Kaif in it. So we started the film and we had shot the title track with Akshay and Priyanka. A lot of things then transpired behind the scenes, unfortunate things, and at one point I realised that I wouldn’t be able to do this movie with the both of them; I had to choose.”He added that his decision was based on principle. “Waqt waqt ki baat hoti hai… Whatever happened back then, my argument was simple, if you have made a mistake, then why should the female star suffer for it? I said I’ll go with Priyanka, and it was very heartbreaking for me. I had shot so much of the film already, and I had scrap all of that. Then I got a call from a friend, who suggested my Bobby Deol. His career wasn’t going very well at that point, and I had even put it in contract that Bobby couldn’t work for anyone else before finishing my shoot.”In an earlier interview, the producer had said, “Akshay Kumar went through a personal dilemma. We started shooting with Akshay and Priyanka. We shot a song with them. After that, the film kept getting delayed as Akshay had to sort out his (family) problems. It was a grave domestic issue for Akshay. Otherwise, he’d have never walked out of the film. He couldn’t have let me down after the way I’ve stood by him over the years. The provocation had to be very serious. When a filmmaker invests so much in a film, he’s within his rights to expect loyalty from his actors. But then personal dilemmas have to be sorted out before professional loyalties are considered… I don’t blame Akshay for anything. But yes, firstly he insisted that I sign no actor but him. Then he drops out. Thank God Bobby bailed me out. Someday I’ll edit the song I shot with Akshay in Barsaat and use it somewhere.”Eventually, Katrina Kaif also exited the project, with Bipasha Basu joining in her place. Following this alleged fallout, Akshay and Priyanka never appeared together again. Earlier, they had shared screen space in films like David Dhawan’s ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi’ (2004), Vipul Shah’s ‘Waqt: Race Against Time’ (2005), Abbas-Mustan’s ‘Aitraaz’ (2004), and Raj Kanwar’s ‘Andaaz’ (2003).
