The highly anticipated third part of the popular Welcome series, titled Welcome to the Jungle, is set to release in December this year. However, according to a recent report, Sanjay Dutt has pulled out of the film due to scheduling conflicts. A source, earlier quoted by Bollywood Hungama, said that Sanjay Dutt cited date issues for his exit. He discussed the matter with Akshay and told him that the Welcome To The Jungle shoot was disorganised, with too many script changes.
A source has now revealed to HT that Sanjay stepped back from Welcome 3 three months ago due to his struggle with cancer affecting his ability to handle the action scenes. A close insider shared, “Sanjay was very enthusiastic about the film and had even begun shooting. Unfortunately, after completing just one day of filming in Madh Island, a few months back, he informed the director that he couldn’t continue due to health reasons following his battle with cancer and the subsequent treatments. Although Welcome 3 is a masala movie filled with humour, it also involves a lot of action (Sanjay’s character had a lot of action in the movie), which he didn’t anticipate and found himself unable to perform.”
Sanjay Dutt was said to have been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, although his family did not disclose specific details. In August 2020, the Munna Bhai MBBS star revealed his cancer diagnosis. Months later, he announced that he was cancer-free. The source added, “Arshad (Warsi) was quite happy to reconnect with his Munna Bhai co-star, however, it did not work out. As soon as Sanjay informed the team about his decision, Suniel Shetty stepped up to fill in for the former’s role. The filming is almost done and the crew is surprised as to why this negative news has been doing rounds now because this all happened many months ago.”
With Sanjay out of the picture, the cast now includes Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Disha Patani, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Jacqueline Fernandez, Paresh Rawal, Arshad Warsi, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda, Daler Mehndi, Mika Singh, Mukesh Tiwari, Zakir Hussain, Yashpal Sharma, and Sayaji Shinde, with the recent additions of Jackie Shroff and Aftab Shivdasani.
Presented by Base Industries Group, Welcome to the Jungle is produced by Firoz A. Nadiadwallah and directed by Ahmed Khan. The film is set for a grand theatrical release during the Christmas week on 20th December 2024.
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