Before Welcome to the Jungle hit theatres on June 26, one question kept coming up among fans: what happened to Sanjay Dutt? The actor was part of the film’s original announcement and had even shot for a few days before Suniel Shetty stepped into the role. In a conversation with Hindustan Times, director Ahmed Khan finally opened up about the casting change, revealing that it all came down to scheduling issues rather than any creative fallout.
Sanjay Dutt’s exit and Suniel Shetty coming on board.
Ahmed Khan revealed that Suniel Shetty’s role was always written the same way, even before Sanjay Dutt exited the film. According to him, Sanjay had already shot for a couple of days, but repeated scheduling conflicts eventually made it difficult to continue.
“It was always written this way. That was always the plan. In the beginning, when we announced the film, Sanjay Dutt shot for two days. But there were so many date issues. Baba (Sanjay Dutt) had to go away for a whole month,” he said.
Ahmed shared that even after Sanjay tried to reshuffle his dates, things didn’t work out. “Then the second time, another little issue happened, and he said, ‘I will shift my dates again.’ Then we felt guilty and said, ‘Baba, we can’t make you shift your schedule.’ Then he said, ‘How much will you guys adjust for me?’ So we had to let go of certain things; the show must go on,” he recalled.
Despite the last-minute change, Ahmed said there was complete support from the cast. “All the actors were supportive. Sanju told Suniel, ‘You do my role,’ and Suniel told Jackie Shroff, ‘You do my role.’ That just shows that everybody wanted this film to happen,” he added.
Why Suniel Shetty fit the role
When Suniel Shetty stepped into the role, Ahmed Khan felt it was only natural to lean into the actor’s established screen image. “As for Anna (Suniel Shetty), organically, Suniel Shetty’s name has Shetty, so it fits perfectly with the character name. And he took the traits from Awara Paagal Deewana,” he said. In the film, Suniel plays the brother of Uday Shetty, the beloved character previously played by Nana Patekar in the Welcome franchise.
Ahmed said the meta references were deliberately woven into the film as a nod to audiences who have grown up watching these characters. By casting Suniel as “Shetty” and bringing back shades of his eccentric Yeda Anna persona, he wanted fans to instantly recognise and reconnect with a familiar version of the actor on screen.
About Welcome to the Jungle
Welcome To The Jungle brings together the Hera Pheri trio, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal.
The star-studded cast also features Disha Patani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad Warsi, Jackie Shroff, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Farida Jalal, Johny Lever, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav, Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda, Daler Mehndi, Aftab Shivdasani, Mukesh Tiwari, Yashpal Sharma, Kiran Kumar, Zakir Hussain, Vindu Dara Singh, Urvashi Rautela, Hemant Pandey, Brijendra Kala, Feroze Khan (Arjun), the late Pankaj Dheer, Puneet Issar, Sudesh Berry, Jeetu Verma, Vrihi Kodvara, and Bhagya Bhanushali.
Welcome to the Jungle is currently running across 3,789 shows nationwide and has crossed ₹100 crore at the Indian box office so far.