EXCLUSIVE: “As many as 12 actors REJECTED Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat…sab ka choda hua role mere paas aata hai!” – Harshvardhan Rane

By Fenil Seta -

November 12, 2025 - 11:37 AM IST

The industry and moviegoers were quite surprised when Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat was awarded with an ‘A’ certificate. After all, it didn’t seem like a typical adult film from the promos and songs. Bollywood Hungama exclusively spoke to the film’s lead actor to understand his point of view on this aspect.

EXCLUSIVE: “As many as 12 actors REJECTED Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat…sab ka choda hua role mere paas aata hai!” – Harshvardhan Rane

Did the ‘A’ rating worry him, or was he okay with the decisions of the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification)? Harshvardhan Rane said, “Worry, complaint, crib – I have removed these three things from my life (smiles). If you abuse me and hang up, I’ll not worry, complain, and crib. I’ll instead try to understand what must have triggered you to act in this fashion. So, when we got an ‘A’ rating or even when we got fewer screens, I went into the reason behind it. Instead of complaining, I told myself, ‘The other film (Thamma) is made at a budget of Rs. 175 crores or maybe Rs. 200 crores. Jitna bada maal hai, utni zyada dukaanein chahiye usse bechne ke liye’. Every film has the same time period to score at the box office. So, that’s why they needed more theatres. Fair enough.”

Harshvardhan continued, “When Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat got an ‘A’ rating, I realized that hamare culture mein jo cheez aade aa rahi hai, uss hisaab se authorities ne adult rating de diya. It made sense. No problem.”

He also remarked, “You’ll never hear me saying that I am being pressurized. Actors often grouse that the role, which they were supposed to do, was given to someone else. But in my case, sab ka choda hua role mere paas aata hai (laughs)! Some other actors were to do Taish (2020) and Haseen Dillruba (2021). The same happened with Paltan (2018). All of them left and that’s how I bagged those parts. Do you know that as many as 12 actors rejected Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat (laughs)? Hence, you’ll never find me complaining.”

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The bond with John Abraham

Harshvardhan Rane and John Abraham share a beautiful bond. Harshvardhan said in an exclusive interview to Bollywood Hungama in October 2022 that he first met John Abraham when he was working as a courier boy.

John has a low-key presence on social media, but for Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat, he went all out to promote like never before; this truly shows his fondness for Harshvardhan.

Harshvardhan Rane said, “I still feel I am that delivery boy who’s standing in front of John with the helmet. Aaj bhi main unse nazar jhuka ke baat karta hoon. I don’t even consider him a friend, even today, as you can be casual with your buddy. The equation has been the same for the last 21 years. Aur woh aise insaan hai ki raah chalte woh kisi ki bhi madat kar denge. And he did it (promoting Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat) on his own, which you can sense too. If it's forced, one can easily guess. But the fact that he did it on his own shows his magnanimity. It shows that there are such gems present in the industry. I’ll never be able to repay, as I neither have the capacity nor the capability.”

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: The INSIDE story on why Abhishek Bachchan was thanked in Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat