Irrfan Khan replacing Neil Nitin Mukesh in the sequel of 'Saheb Biwi aur Gangster' had come across as a shock for many in the industry. After all, till just a fortnight back Neil had sounded ultra excited about doing the Tigmanshu Dhulia film. While there have been quite a few speculations around the real reason behind the sudden shift in developments, it has just been revealed that Neil too had reservations about the written material that had come his way.

"The fact is that he had already played an older person in '7 Khoon Maaf' just a year back and didn't want to get into the same space all over again," reveals a source close to Neil, "In the film he had played a 40 something army man in one of the episodes. The film saw good critical acclaim coming his way and though as an experiment it worked fine for him, he didn't want to make that as a trend. He wants to build a fan-base that likes him playing much younger parts. At this stage of his career, he can't be playing someone who is a decade older than him."

Since the makers of 'Saheb Biwi aur Gangster 2' were sure that the added character in the sequel had to be a slightly older man, Neil didn't take a moment to opt out of it. It was a mutual decision once Tigmanshu confessed that the character couldn't be turned younger in order to accommodate Neil.

"Of course Neil was disappointed but then there was no bad blood between him and Tigmanshu," the source continues, "In a way he is relieved as now he won't have any unpleasant surprises waiting for him later in the day. He has a terrific line up films ahead of him, one of them being Abbas-Mustan's remake of 'Baazigar'. He is fine with playing grey characters and doing thrillers since that has been his forte. However he also wants to make sure that he plays his age instead of experimenting way too much."

When contacted, Neil too was quite forthcoming about his exit from 'Saheb Biwi aur Gangster 2'. He said, "Frankly, I didn't want to get into the '7 Khoon Maaf' zone. With the kind of line up I have planned for myself, I would rather play my age instead of getting into an experimental mode just in order to prove a point."

Listen to '7 Khoon Maaf' Songs on Raaga!