Freddy Daruwala says he initially rejected Race 3: ‘I didn’t even pay attention to the narration’

Freddy Daruwala, who played the antagonist in Race 3, said that he originally turned the film down because he was told that it would be a ‘small role’. However, he changed his mind after being told by casting director Mukesh Chhabra that he would be facing off Salman Khan.

Race 3, directed by Remo D’Souza, starred Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem. Freddy Daruwala played Rana Khanna, a business rival of Anil’s character Shamsher Singh, who was later revealed to be in cahoots with him.

Speaking to a leading daily, Freddy said that he was uninterested during the narration of Race 3, as he had reservations about the length of his role. “When I was offered Race 3, I was told that it would be a small role and so it didn’t interest me. I didn’t even pay attention to the narration and turned it down,” he said.

“It was then that the casting director Mukesh Chhabra informed me that I would be pitted opposite Salman in the film. I was also told by the film’s producer Ramesh Taurani that since I am the main villain I’ll also get a poster. So you see, this film was meant to be mine. Even after turning it down, it came to me,” he added.

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Upon its release, Race 3 was unanimously panned by critics and currently has a rating of 1.9 out of 10 on IMDb. The film entered the ₹100-crore club within just three days of its release but ticket sales plummeted soon afterwards.

Freddy made his Bollywood debut in 2014 with Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi-starrer Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, in which he played the antagonist. He has since starred in films such as Commando 2 and Race 3.