Surprisingly, Aditya Roy Kapur whose last hit Malang was directed by Mohit Suri has opted out of the same director’s next film Ek Villain 2, presumably because the ‘villain’ John Abraham’s role was shaping up far stronger than the ‘hero’ Aditya Roy Kapoor’s role.

It may be recalled that the only two really big successes in Aditya’s career Aashiqui 2 and Malang were both directed by Mohit Suri.

A source informs, “When Aditya was offered the part, he was extremely kicked about his role and the way Mohit had imagined the action set-pieces in the film. They were even bigger than the way he devised the same for Malang. But in the last few weeks, Mohit and Adi were continuously having creative differences on the script and his role. There was a mutual decision taken by both of them where they finally decided to go ahead with the film, without Adi.”

Sources close to Suri say the parting was not in the least acrimonious.

“There’s no bad blood between the two. They share a great relationship and parted ways on this film on an amicable note.It wasn’t as if the script for Ek Villain was ready and then Aditya ditched the project at the last minute. With the lockdown and no certainty of when shooting resumes, Aditya and Mohit were going through many discussions. There were certain points in the plot and Aditya’s character that they thought they’d work out. But it didn’t happen that way. That’s okay. Mohit has plenty of time to find a replacement,” says the source.

It won’t be easy. Since the villain has the author-backed title role.