11 September,2023 02:49 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Govind Namdev`s role was axed from his debut film `Saudagar`
Govind Namdev is currently riding high on the success of his recent release, âOMG 2.' The actor, known for playing negative roles in films like Shola Aur Shabnam or Bhool Bhulaiya 2, opened up about how his role was axed from his debut film.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, the actor shared that he got a role in the Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar starrer Saudagar with the help of his friend Anupam Kher, who was also a part of the film, but his role was later chopped due to the film's long runtime. The film also starred Amrish Puri, Manisha Koirala, and Jackie Shroff.
While sharing his side of the story, Govind shared, "I shot for 5-6 days. After the shooting was completed, I was informed that the film was running for over four hours. Now, during the editing, it was brought down to under four hours. Then someone suggested that if they remove my track, another 15 minutes could be saved. This is how my entire character was removed."
He also slammed the makers for not informing him about their decision, "I frequented their office asking, âDubbing nahi karva rahe?â They would keep saying, âHaan karenge karenge (Yes, we will do it).' Then, the post-production work was also done. I went to Ashok ji, who looked after production work, and told him that I haven't done my dubbing. He told me to come in the evening and when I went in the evening, he told me that since the film got quite lengthy, they cut out my character," shared Namdev.
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The actor in the interview opened up about how he was worried about his image as he had already informed everyone about working with Dilip Kumar. "I had done international-level theatre. I was the main actor, and A-grade artist from NSD. I had left behind that respect there, so it was so shocking for me. I was worried about what people would say about me," he shared.
It took Namdev three months to come to terms with the fact that his character was chopped from his debut film. He shared that he used to cry and couldn't stop himself from crying. He reminisced, "It took me three months to recover from this shock. "