Prithviraj Sukumaran recently opened up about turning down Karan Johar’s Bombay Talkies. He didn’t want to do similar roles one after the other—pretty straightforward, honestly.
Just before that, he’d played a gay cop in Mumbai Police, which came out in 2013. Bombay Talkies dropped the same year, so, yeah, the timing was tight.
Why did Prithviraj turn down Karan Johar’s Bombay Talkies?
In an interview with Nayandeep Rakshit, Prithviraj explained, “Karan spoke to me about it, but I couldn’t make it work. My schedule was a mess, for one thing.
And I’d just wrapped up playing a gay character. Didn’t feel right to repeat myself back-to-back like that.”
Still, he had good things to say about the project. He admitted he liked the script, and after watching the film, he thought Randeep Hooda did a fantastic job.
Missing out on working with Karan Johar as a director stung a bit, and he’s hoping that opportunity comes up again someday. If you’re curious, Bombay Talkies is streaming on JioHotstar.
Prithviraj reveals why the Mumbai Police’s role was risky
Talking about his role in Mumbai Police, Prithviraj pointed out how risky it was at the time. Not just because he played a gay man, but because the character broke stereotypes.
This wasn’t some cliché portrayal—he played a tough, aggressive police officer whose sexuality was just one part of who he was, not the whole story.
Right now, Prithviraj is busy promoting Sarzameen, alongside Kajol and Ibrahim Ali Khan. For the record, this is only Ibrahim’s second film—his first, Nadaaniyan, didn’t exactly wow the critics.
Also, Mumbai Police got a Bollywood remake this year titled Deva, starring Shahid Kapoor. It couldn’t really match up to the original, though, and didn’t do much at the box office.
