Ajay, Emraan cornered Milan on OUATIM sequel : Bollywood News

Whether it was plain jest, albeit well disguised, or plain speak, the fact remains that both Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi, who didn't make it into the sequel of Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara, did question the film's director on what he was planning to do with the film.

"In fact, Ajay had a long chat about Milan on the film. He wanted to know what was he making," says a source who added, "It was but natural since it was Ajay who had worked with Milan first in his Kachche Dhaage and then later Chori Chori. Milan had to explain that since the story was moving forward, he was helpless when it came to accommodating Ajay since his character (Sultan) was dead."

He had to make certain explanations to Emraan as well as it was his character Shoaib that further grows up to become Akshay Kumar.

"The logic shared with him was that even in Godfather series, there were many characters which were played by different actors as the film moved in installments. There was nothing to be taken personally and Milan spent good time with Emraan, with whom he had worked in The Dirty Picture," the source continues. (Not many know that Milan and Emraan are distant relatives too!)

To his relief, neither Ajay nor Emraan created a fuss. Meanwhile, once Akshay Kumar and Imran Khan came on board, Milan too got occupied in making the film.

"Let us not read too much into this though," says Milan. He adds, "Akshay and Ajay get along well and I am glad both were so delighted about being a part of the franchise. They are mature enough to understand that with the story moving forward, actors had to change. These guys have been around for more than 20 years each and it would be silly to insinuate that anyone would feel wronged. In fact, I missed them as much as I missed Prachi (Desai) and Kangna (Ranaut). "

He laughs, "As for the film, I was clear that I had to do something different and hence jumped genres. Of course, both Ajay and Emraan pulled my leg because I had left them out!"