After Nushrratt Bharuccha recently admitted she felt hurt being replaced by Ananya Panday in Dream Girl 2, director Raaj Shaandilyaa has broken his silence on the matter. While the 2019 film Dream Girl featured Nushrratt opposite Ayushmann Khurrana, she didn’t return for the second instalment, which hit theatres in 2023.
Speaking to Times of India, Raaj clarified that Dream Girl 2 was not a direct sequel but a “franchise film.” He said, “If it were a sequel, then Nushrratt would have been cast in the film. Dream Girl’s story ended when Ayushmann and Nushrratt’s characters united. We wanted to narrate a new story, so we continued with Ayushmann, Manjot Singh and Annu Kapoor, and brought Ananya in as a fresh character.”
The director added that Nushrratt once directly asked him why she wasn’t a part of the film. “I told her the story needed a new girl. There’s no reason for disappointment because jab hum third part banayenge, we’ll cast a new girl again. Usme Ananya nahi hogi, koi aur hogi,” he explained, adding that he considers Nushrratt a “dear friend” and hopes to collaborate with her on another project soon.
Earlier, in a conversation with Nayandeep Rakshit, Nushrratt had spoken about being left out of Dream Girl 2, saying, “It hurt me even more when I was not a part of my own sequel. Every other actor was the same, except the girl, which I felt was not cool na, guys?” She admitted she accepted the decision but felt sidelined: “Eventually, it’s a choice somebody’s making. I cannot question your choice.”
Dream Girl 2, a spiritual successor to the 2019 hit, followed Ayushmann’s character cross-dressing and causing chaos in a new setting. Directed by Raaj Shaandilyaa and produced by Ekta and Shobha Kapoor, the film emerged as a box office winner, raking in ₹142.2 crore globally.