Gautam Rode reflects on Zareen Khan’s fights with Aksar 2 producers, says film was turned into an erotic thriller

Actor Gautam Rode, who was seen recently in State of Siege: Temple Attack, has reflected on what went wrong with his film Aksar 2, co-starring Zareen Khan. He said that she and the producers didn’t get along, and blamed the film’s marketing for its failure to find an audience.

Gautam stated, however, that he was pleased with his work in the film, which released in 2017 and also featured Abhinav Shukla.

In an interview with RJ Siddharth Kannan, Gautam Rode was asked about the controversies that surrounded the film’s release, mostly around its bold content. He said in Hindi, “There were no sex scenes. I still don’t understand what sex scenes people had a problem with, there weren’t any. The problem was that at the time, Zareen was undergoing an image makeover. She did the project because they were presenting her in a different manner. There was only one kiss between her and Abhinav. I didn’t even have that. Even that kiss wasn’t a part of a sex scene, it was a song sequence. The song wasn’t erotic, it was romantic…”

He continued, “I don’t blame anyone, but I blame how the film was promoted. It was a suspense thriller that they turned into an erotic thriller and played the same clip of Zareen over and over in the marketing. Everyone thought it was going to be another Hate Story. So the audiences were all the more disappointed when they watched the film and realised there was nothing in it. Those who came for the erotic content left disappointed, and those who didn’t want to watch an erotic film didn’t come at all. I got stuck in the middle of it… I only did the film because it was a suspense thriller, and I really liked my character. I’m still pleased with my performance, but it’s all about a film’s destiny. Zareen and the producers were also arguing and fighting, and because of that the film was in the news for the wrong reasons.”

Also read: Zareen Khan says she was judged as ‘another pretty face who cannot act’, feels she didn’t get opportunity to show talent

In 2017, Zareen had levelled multiple accusations against the producers of Aksar 2. She had told SpotboyE, “They wanted me to wear minimal clothes in every frame. Of course I will raise questions and put my foot down? Why was this masala being added? Were they not confident about what they had made till then? I tried to find a middle solution, but every time there were arguments. Every day they wanted a change in my clothes; they wanted me to change into something very irrational, something that would make me expose…”