Babil Khan takes a hiatus after a public dispute with director Sai Rajesh, shedding light on the emotional challenges faced by emerging actors in Bollywood.

The actor steps back following emotional turmoil and project fallout.

Actor Babil Khan, the son of deceased Irrfan Khan, has declared a hiatus from acting after a string of emotional incidents and a public spat with director Sai Rajesh.

Controversy erupted when Babil shared an emotional video on social media, sharing his feelings of isolation from the film industry. In the video, he referred to a number of industry colleagues, including Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi, and this created widespread speculation and worry among fans and friends. His team later clarified that the video had been misinterpreted and that Babil was simply stating admiration for these actors.

But things took an ugly turn when director Sai Rajesh, with whom Babil was working on the Hindi remake of the Telugu movie "Baby," came down on the actor's clarification, implying that only the people he had named were being appreciated. Babil hit back by posting a series of now-deleted comments, indicating the seriousness of his commitment to the project. He stated he had worked for two years on the character, going through immense physical and emotional exhaustion in order to play the role. Amidst the uproar, a number of peers in the industry spoke up in defense of Babil, calling on the people to approach the situation with compassion.

Babil's move to take a break underscores the emotional price that the entertainment world extracts from new actors.