At the Goa trailer launch, Ahlawat insisted his SP character is a fresh entry, even as reports persist that Khanna quit over a fee dispute just ten days before the shoot began.
Jaideep Ahlawat isn't interested in the comparison game. At the trailer launch of Drishyam: The Conclusion in Goa on Wednesday, the actor was asked the obvious question, given he's stepping into a franchise that had Akshaye Khanna playing IG Tarun Ahlawat in Drishyam 2. His answer was straightforward.
"No, not at all. When I heard the story, it wasn't framed as if I was stepping into Akshaye Sir's shoes or anything like that," Jaideep told reporters, according to Filmfare. He put it more bluntly to the Free Press Journal: "No, because when I heard the story, it did not feel like I was coming in place of Akshaye sir. A new character is being introduced. There is no point in taking that pressure."
In the film, Jaideep plays SP (Crime Branch) Rajveer Tomar, a new officer who picks up the investigation into Vijay Salgaonkar's carefully built cover story. Khanna's IG Tarun Ahlawat, the man who spent Drishyam 2 hunting for the truth, is gone from this chapter entirely.
Jaideep credited director Abhishek Pathak for framing Tomar as his own person rather than a stand-in. "The journey is different, the introduction is new, and a new relationship is going to be created with Meera and the Salgaonkar family," he said. "So, it is going to be a very individualistic approach to this character. I don't think there was any pressure."
What happened to Akshaye Khanna's role
Khanna was originally expected to return for the third film, and his exit hasn't been fully explained on record. The Free Press Journal reported that, according to the producer, he quit ten days before shooting started, and that other reports have pointed to a fee disagreement, with Khanna said to have wanted Rs 21 crore and the makers declining. None of this has been confirmed by Khanna himself, and CutMirchi hasn't been able to independently verify the figure.
What's certain is that Jaideep is now central to a franchise that's made a habit of squeezing tension out of Vijay Salgaonkar's cover-up. Drishyam: The Conclusion, out October 2, brings back Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran, Prakash Raj, Rajat Kapoor, Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav alongside Jaideep, with the trailer promising a fresh set of complications for the Salgaonkar family a decade on.
The trailer, released Thursday, picks up the story after Drishyam 2 and sets up Tomar as the officer determined to unravel what Vijay's spent years burying. Whether Jaideep's fresher-faced antagonist can match the menace Khanna brought to the role is exactly the sort of thing audiences will decide for themselves starting October 2. Until then, expect the Khanna question to keep following Jaideep at every promotional stop between now and release day.
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