Television actor Harshad Chopda's Bollywood debut, 2016 - 'The End', finally went on floors yesterday in Mumbai. The comic caper, directed by Jaideep Chopra, however, underwent its share of trouble before everything fell into place.
Apparently, the makers found it difficult to finalise the female lead of the film and after much to and fro, zeroed in on newcomer Priya Banerjee, who featured in the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-Irrfan starrer Jazbaa.
Buzz is that the makers initially approached Tapsee Pannu, but she expressed her reservation to act opposite Harshad. Apparently, she wanted her co-star to be changed.
Later, Madhurima Tuli, who was seen in the Akshay Kumar-starrer Baby, earlier this year, was finalised opposite the actor. She even attended workshops for the film with his co-star for five-six days but the makers changed their mind. They felt that the actress wouldn't be able to do justice to the role as they wanted a younger actress to essay the part and hence Madhurima was ousted from the project.
Says Jaideep Chopra, `Yes, I had met Taapsee Pannu and she loved the subject, but wanted a change in the film's cast which includes Harshad Chopda along with Divyendu Sharma and Kiku Sharda.
Talking about Madhurima's exit from the flick, he says, `At a later stage, I felt Madhurima would not be able to do justice to the role. I wanted a younger, fresher face.` Incidentally, Taapsee had acted with Divyendu Sharma in David Dhawan's 2013 film Chashme Baddoor. Chopra has earlier produced and directed Maazii (2013) that starred telly actress Mona Wasu.
