Rajniesh Duggall Claims Priyanka Chopra Got Him Dropped from Yakeen: ‘She Called Me a Newcomer’

Rajniesh Duggal, model-turned actor paved his path in the Bollywood industry. In 2008, Rajniesh made his debut in Bollywood with Vikram Bhatt’s horror thriller movie 1920 alongside Adah Sharma. However, Duggal was supposed to make his debut even before 2008 when he was offered a role in Priyanka Chopra’s 2005 film Yakeen. However, his debut faced a significant obstacle when Priyanka allegedly declined to collaborate with a newcomer at the eleventh hour.

Now, during an interaction with Siddharth Kannan, Rajniesh talked about the experience of being dropped from PC’s Yakeen, which could also be his Hindi debut. He said, “I was the first choice for Yakeen, I was signed for the film. In fact, I was working on it. When I met director Girish Dhamija, he asked me, ‘When can you move to Mumbai?’ I was already planning to move to Mumbai. So, I got training from Girish ji himself; he is an alumnus of the National School of Drama and a dialect coach.”

Rajniesh Duggall revealed that the producer had heavily invested in him, providing luxuries such as a Juhu penthouse, a chauffeur-driven car, and personal chef services. He underwent intensive training for the film, which featured him in a double role alongside Priyanka Chopra as the lead. 

Reflecting on the night he was dropped from the project, he shared, “Suddenly, the producer, Sujit Kumar Singh, called me to his office at night. He told me that Priyanka has become a big star in the time span since they had signed me and they had paid her for the bulk deal, now she is saying ‘I will not work with a newcomer.’ My first reaction was that change the girl because I only saw them putting money on me. I didn’t understand the movie business at that time.”

Talking about Priyanka’s decision to not work with him, he added, “They said Priyanka wanted that, but I feel it could have been the managers or the people around her. I don’t blame her, but she was aware that I was doing the film. She could have said, ‘No, he will do it.’”