Kartik Aaryan, the blue-eyed-boy of the industry seems to have hit a rough patch in terms of his professional career. After his exit from Karan Johar's Dostana and Shah Rukh Khan's Freddie looks like the actor has lost out on his third film. A Hindustan Times report has confirmed Kartik was roped in by filmmaker Aanand L Rai for his yet-untitled production a gangster film, but the Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 actor is no longer part of the project. A source informed the daily that apparently the actor was in advanced level talks with the filmmaker and heard the script narration as well. However, the source told the daily that before Kartik signed on the project, things apparently fell apart. The report further claimed that the real reason things fell through with Rai was not confirmed. However, the source went on to tell the daily, "The fact that Karan dropped Kartik seems to have influenced others. So, this could be the third instance where Kartik maybe losing out on getting to work with an established filmmaker like Aanand."
The source also informed the daily that the filmmaker may be considering Ayushmann Khurrana for the same. Aanand L Rai while speaking to the daily said, "As a production house, we work on several scripts and pitch it to actors — that’s the process. Actors keep meeting you, you keep telling them what you are working on, they express their desire to collaborate. And then, depending upon the subject, you decide if you should approach them. But that doesn’t mean you have signed them. The yet-untitled film was said to be helmed by Rai’s assistant. Now the filmmaker, is planning to get Ayushmann Khurrana on board ho he had earlier collaborated on Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. Meanwhile, on the work front, Kartik will be next seen in Aneez Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 with Kiara Advani and Tabu in lead roles. Apart from this, he has some more interesting projects in his kitty like the remake of the Telugu film ‘Ala Vaikunthapuramuloo’. The action drama originally features Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde in lead roles. He also has Ram Madhvani’s ‘Dhamaka’. The film will have a digital release due to the Covid-19 pandemic.