'There's Akshay Kumar, Sunny Deol in the film, how wrong can you go,' felt Sonu Nigam as he signed 'Jaani Dushman'; reveals why he gave up his acting career

Sonu Nigam is one of the most loved playback singers in the country. Infact, he’s considered iconic by th generation who grew up hearing him sing ever since the 90s and his Indi-pop songs. While the list of songs crooned by Sonu is long, he also ventured into acting though, he couldn’t succeed there. In a recent interview, the singer reflected on his short-lived acting stint, expressing his disappointment with the films he was a part of, particularly ‘Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani’ and ‘Kash Aap Hamare Hote’. He added that the only respectable film he did was ‘Love In Nepal’.

Sonu was seen in ‘Jaani Dushman’ which starred Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar, Manisha Koirala, Arshad Warsi, and several others. The film was a huge flop though over the years, it has now become a cult due to its brain rot content. On paper, it looked like a surefire hit. In reality, it became infamous for all the wrong reasons, earning a cult status today for being unintentionally hilarious.


Recalling his decision to join the film, Sonu said in an interview with Faridoon Shahryar, “Armaan Kohli is like a brother to me, he really cares about me. But we never expected so many people to go wrong. When I signed the film, I thought, Sunny Deol is in it, how wrong can it go? Akshay Kumar is there, how wrong can he go? Manisha Koirala, how wrong can she go? There was Arshad Warsi, Aftab Shivdasani, Aditya Pancholi… so many people were involved. How wrong could a film like that go? But unfortunately, it did.”

Though the film has found ironic appreciation online for being “so bad it’s good,” for Sonu, the experience was far from amusing. The outcome of Jaani Dushman left a lasting impact, but it wasn’t the only project that left him disappointed.

He also spoke about his time on ‘Kash Aap Hamare Hote’, which served as the debut of Juhi Babbar, daughter of veteran actor Raj Babbar. That film, too, turned into a chaotic venture. “That film turned out the same way. We went all the way to shoot it, and they hadn’t even written the climax. Who does that? And now, during the shoot, they’re figuring out how to end it. I was thinking, who are these people? Nadira Babbar, Raj Babbar ji’s daughter is making her debut, how can they go for a shoot without writing the climax? I don’t know whose mistake it was, but I guess it was written in our fate.”

He revealed why he left acting eventually and said, “I realised I’m too busy a person to invest so many days in a film. You are giving 100 days to a film and yeh result hai. Toh aap jhonkho mat apne aap ko. Toh phir wahi karo joh aap kar rahe ho.”

Sonu added that image is also a big thing and people related to him only as a singer for so many years.





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