Paltan director JP Dutta and Abhishek Bachchan used to share a very special bond. Note our usage of the phrase 'used to'. JP Dutta had launched Abhishek in the 2000 film Refugee, that also was the debut of Kareena Kapoor Khan. Abhishek later was a part of the ensemble cast in LOC Kargil, that was also directed by Dutta. The film-maker later directed Abhishek and his spouse Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the remake of the Rekha-starrer Umrao Jaan. Even though all these three movies flopped, Abhishek and Dutta had a cordial relationship. So we weren't surprised when Abhishek had agreed to be a part of Paltan, that could have been his comeback movie after two years.

And we were equally shocked when Abhishek walked out of Paltan just a day before the commencement of the shoot. Neither Abhishek nor Dutta and his daughter Nidhi, who is producing Paltan under their banner, gave a proper explanation for the exit. But it was easily assumed that something went wrong somewhere. While the makers replaced him with Harshvardhan Rane in Paltan, Abhishek signed Anurag Kashyap's Manmarziyan, which interestingly is releasing in the same month as Paltan (at one point, they were even clashing on the same date).

During the trailer launch of Paltan, JP Dutta was asked about Abhishek's exit. To which, he answered, "Please go ask the Bachchans. Because even I don't know (the reason)." Come on, why the discretion?

Earlier, it was speculated that Abhishek was unhappy with the length of his role in the film(Sonu Sood's part was bigger than his), which prompted the walkout. A source close the actor told Deccan Chronicle, "Abhishek was quite kicked about Paltan. However, he realised after a while that Sonu Sood had more screen space than him. That bothered him considerably. When he discussed his apprehensions with Dutta, he told him that while Sonu had more screen time, it was Abhishek who had a better character written for him. Dutta could not convince him and he backed out at the end minute."

Set against the backdrop of Indo-China war, Paltan is based on the Nathu La and Cho La military clashes of 1967 which took place along the Sikkim border. Like Dutta's previous movies, Paltan is also a multi-starrer, with Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood, Gurmeet Choudhary, Harshvardhan Rane and Luv Sinha forming the cast. Dipika Kakkar, Sonal Chauhan, Monica Gill and Esha Gupta are the female leads.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 02, 2018 03:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).