Director Nitin Kumar Gupta refutes allegations of ‘trying to make a fast buck’ made by Rahul Roy’s family regarding his film Stroke

MUMBAI: Actor Rahul Roy and director Nitin Kumar Gupta have always been close. In fact, Rahul has starred in multiple films helmed by the latter including Sayonee, Walk. Kumar has also stated that Rahul will be starring in his next film titled Stroke. While Rahul was shooting for Nitin’s LAC: Live The Battle in Kargil, a few days back, when he suffered from a stroke and had to be airlifted to Srinagar and brought to Mumbai. After that, there was an article doing the rounds where two people, Priyanka and Romeer, who claim to be Rahul’s sister and brother-in-law, have alleged that not only does Rahul have nothing to do with the film Stroke but have also accused Nitin of trying to garner publicity by making a film about a stroke patient and “dancing on their tragedy”.

 However, Nitin strongly refutes these claims. He starts off by saying that both Priyanka and Romeer are not really who they say they are. “The article reports Priyanka as Rahul's sister and Romeer as his brother-in-law which is false. Rahul has only met both of them 2-3 years back,” he says, adding, “The article also says that my film 'Stroke' would essay Rahul as a paralytic patient, which is false. The role is of a stroke victim without any paralysis elements whatsoever.”

In the aforementioned article Priyanka also says that Rahul’s twin brother Rohit, who stays in the US, arranged for six commandoes through a brigadier to go and see Rahul and it was only after that that he was airlifted to Srinagar and brought to Mumbai. However, Nitin says that none of this is true. “Priyanka mentions six commandos who went to see Rahul. This is false. My production person and actor Vishal Sharma took Rahul Roy to Army Hospital and Kargil District Hospital for CT scan. As soon as I returned from the shoot that day, I took him to the district hospital myself for further checkup,” he says, adding, “I wrote to the Kargil district magistrate Mr Basheer for helicopter permission immediately and as soon as he gave permission, I paid for Rahul's helicopter airlift to Srinagar and flight to Mumbai. There was no army involvement and no commandos were involved in the operation.”

Priyanka has also claimed that Nitin was not responding to her calls. However, Nitin says that he was in touch with Rahul’s brother throughout. “Priyanka says I wasn't responding to her calls but the fact is that she never called and most of our filming locations were off-network. I don't have any missed call intimation from her whatsoever, neither on phone nor on Whatsapp. I had been constantly in touch with Rahul's twin brother Rohit,” he explains.

Both Romeer and Priyanka have questioned Nitin’s claim that Rahul is part of his next film Stroke. However, Nitin says that Rahul has given him the consent to cast him in all of his films, without seeking his permission every time. “On whether I have Rahul's permission to cast him in Stroke or not, I have filmed four films with Rahul Roy - Sayonee, Walk, L.A.C and Death of an Ambassador. I am not someone who wants to make a fast buck on his name, but someone who has stood by him and rejected other actors for him. Rahul himself has stated that he will be part of any film I make and has jokingly threatened me not to make any film without him. So, in fact, I do have blanket permission from him to cast him in any film that I make,” he says.