Director Nishikant Kamat, walks out on John Abraham ?

Filmmaker Nishikant Kamat, who had directed actors John Abraham and Genelia D’Souza in Force,  was slated to do the sequel of the film, but has apparently walked out of the film. This makes him the second director after filmmaker Anubhav Kashyap (of Dabangg fame) to walk out of directing a sequel of his own film.

With the success of the film Force, film producer Vipul Shah had made an official announcement of making a sequel to it. “We are extremely happy with the success of Force, and I am keen to start the sequel with John immediately. The story is a completely new adventure with a new villain,” Vipul had announced. The final script of the film is already complete, and the casting process has  begun. According to sources, actor Vidya Balan was supposed to make the cut as John’s heroine in the sequel.

“With the death of his wife (played by Genelia) in the first film, John meets the character of Vidya, who helps him come out of his depression. There would have been a romantic angle, but this too would have been action heavy with a different villain,” says a source. The shock exit came when the casting phase of the film was on and the filmmakers were talking to Vidya about doing the film. John had already confirmed.

Though there are a lot of theories floating about Nishikant’s exit and the most popular being the fees. But a source close to the director said that Nishikant does  not want to repeat genres. “It has got nothing to do with money.  Nishikant doesn’t want to get involved with similar kinds of movies. He wants to do different kinds of movies. He has done an action film and now he wants to do something else. He doesn’t want to do the sequel either,” says the source.

Apparently, the earlier announcement of the sequel was made without Nishikant’s knowledge.  “He never said that he is going to do the sequel. That announcement came without his knowledge. He is out of the project now,” says the source.

s_banerjee@dnaindia.net