Abhi nahi, Abhi sahi

Bachchan Jr loses out to Abhimanyu Singh to play younger Big B in film

Abhi nahi, Abhi sahi

Bachchan Jr loses out to Abhimanyu Singh to play younger Big B in film

Abhimanyu Singh has landed a dream role. The Gulaal actor plays Amitabh Bachchan's younger version in Chandra-prakash Dwivedi's Kunal Avadan based on the relationship between Mauryan Emperor Ashoka and his son Kunal.

It is reliably learnt that Dwivedi's long-in-the-making historical was initially slated to feature Abhishek Bachchan in the role.

Gulaal role helped

Says a source, "Abhimanyu's performance in Gulaal fetched him the role.

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He felt he could play the younger Ashoka very well."

Adds the source, "Dwivedi was keen to have Abhishek play Bachchan Sr's younger version. But for now, Bachchan Junior may be roped in for another role in the AB Corp-produced film."

I'm in!

As Gulaal came Abhimanyu's way after a decade of struggle, the actor is extremely cautious about talking about his new projects, "At this juncture, I can't reveal any details. But yes, I have been approached to play the role. It is a big honour for me."

Double honour

The actor also has another link with the film's subject its setting. "As I am from Patna where Ashoka lived, the honour is doubled. My parents stay about two kilometers away from Agam Kua, a historical site where Ashoka killed 99 people and threw in the well before his life-altering experience during the Kalinga war."

Abhi's arrived

After Gulaal, Abhimanyu has been noticed by B-Town folk. He also features in Mahesh Nair's Accident On Hill Road. Says the actor, "I came to Mumbai a decade ago and struggled all these years. Gulaal has changed the course of my life."

Heu00a0 initially pursued theatre with Makrand Deshpande and was seen in plays like Dev Vanar, Yodha and Sir Sir Sarla. He also did television shows like Ssssh Koi Hai.

Though he was seen in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Aks, Priyadarshan's Dhol and Kunal Deshmukh's Jannat, it was only after Gulaal that he can now say that he has arrived in Bollywood.

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