Apart from other Deol actors (Sunny & Bobby), Abhay has mostly focused on unconventional, independent and off-beat cinema rather than mainstream action and commercial formulas.
Though, Abhay is widely praised for his creative script sense and brilliant acting caliber, Kashyap’s experience working with him on Dev D was “painfully difficult”.
Kashyap prefers an improvisational directing style where as Abhay favours detailed discipline and personal preparation for his roles. This mismatch caused massive creative friction on the set.
Kashyap also stated that Abhay wanted the privileges of a mainstream star while working on low-budget artistic films. While the entire tight-budget crew stayed in Paharganj, Delhi, Abhay stayed in a luxury five-star hotel.
Abhay was also absent for a long time after the filming wrapped and did not show up to promote the film.
Besides this, the two also had a rift as to who originated the core concept of Dev D. According to Abhay, it was he who originally came up with the idea to modernise the classic Devdas.
Kashyap claims that the script was based on a draft written by Vikramaditya Motwane (who assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Devdas) which he had altered and improvised.
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