'Akshaye Khanna Ne Bahut Ghatiya Harkat Ki...': Section 375 Writer's Explosive Claims About Dhurandhar Star 'Playing Dirty Politics' With Him Surface Amid Drishyam 3 Controversy

While Akshaye Khanna is enjoying the success of his movie Dhurandhar at the box office, the actor has landed in a controversy regarding the upcoming Drishyam 3. Drishyam franchise producer Kumar Mangat Pathak confirmed that he has sent a legal notice to the actor for allegedly walking out of the film's third and final installment after accepting the signing amount and committing dates for the project. As per Pathak, Akshaye demanded a much higher fees than they agreed to initially and also demanded to wear a wig.

Pathak called Akshaye "toxic on set", "unprofessional", "practically jobless" and much more. As this controversy blows up, a recent interview of Section 375 writer Manish Gupta has surfaced in which he also slammed Akshaye for "playing politics" and getting him ousted as the director of the film despite him doing all the work on the project, including research, writing, pre-production and casting.

Also read: Drishyam 3 Controversy: 5 Disparaging Comments Made Against Akshaye

Appearing on Kosmic Konnection podcast, Manish said, "It took me 3 years to write Section 375. I sat in 160 court hearings. I did lots of research, met judges, lawyers and rape victims. I got the idea of the film from Shiney Ahuja's case. When he was arrested, I was in Mumbai. I rushed to the Oshiwara with my friend and we questioned the police about his arrest. I was told law is not like this. Sahi aur galat baad mein hai... Pehle arrest hoga. Tabhi law aisa tha. I said to myself this is a very wrong thing and decided to make a movie."

Also read: Drishyam 3 Makers To Sue Akshaye Khanna, Calls His Exit 'Unprofessional'

He continued, "I wrote the whole film. I did the entire pre-production. I even roped in Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha and Rahul Bhat and signed them. I am the director of the movie. But the producer and the lead actor played very dirty politics with me. I got credit only for writing. This is Bollywood. Akshaye Khanna ki ego... Actor ka kya hai na... We have made them gods. The public doesn't care about the movie but the actor. Akshaye is not a big star but usko bi sar pe chadaya jaata hai. Producer ke liye woh bhagwan jaisa tha. They don't care who is the director."

About Akshaye's professional conduct, Manish said, "He is the most difficult person I have ever worked with. He is whimsical and lazy. Woh itna mushkil sa mahaul create karta hai ki... Har chiz uske hisab se honi chahiye. Kisi ki sunta nahi hai. Sabki beizzati karta hai. Actor accha hai par ek acha insaan hone mein farak hai. Uske sath koi kaam nahi karna chahta hai because they know how difficult he is to work with. No one wants to give him the hero's role. Maine usko hero ka role diya. Itna acha script diya. Abhi ungrateful bolun ki kya bolun? Uski aise kaun si film aayi hai jismein woh solo hero hai? Usne mere sath hi aisa kiya. Usne bahut hi ghatiya harkat ki hai mere saath. Akshaye and the producer, they did it together. The producer was under pressure from Akshaye. Actors want to control the movie. They want a puppet for a director."