It was Shirish Kunder who volunteered to opt out of Kick. And it was decided by mutual consent that the matter would be kept under wraps until the release of Kunder’s calamitous Joker. But Kunder texted to Salman immediately after the meeting with Nadiadwala informing the star that he is no more a part of Kick. Salman in turn, got in touch with Nadiadwala. And the rest is hysteria. One got that not from Kunder or his irate wife Farah Khan, but from a source very close to Nadiadwala. The plot involving Shirish Kunder’s exit from producer Sajid Nadiadwala’s proposed action thriller Kick, has now thickened and curdled. What with a source very close to Nadiadwala spilling the beans on what really transpired behind closed doors between Sajid and Shirish on the afternoon of 24 August, a week ahead of the release of Shirish’s disastrous Joker. Says a very close friend of Nadiadwala, “It was on the 24th, one week ahead of the release of Joker, that Sajid called Shirish over to his office to narrate Kick to Salman Khan. Rightfully it was the Kick writer Rajat Arora who should have done the narration. But Rajat is nowadays busy with Once Upon Time In Mumbai 2. So Sajid invited the film’s purported director Shirish to do the needful.” According to Sajid’s friend when Shirish arrived and the two friends hugged, Shirish dropped a bomb. “He told Sajid that the narration for Kick should be done by Rajat and if Rajat was not available Sajid should do the narration, as, Shirish was to occupied with Joker to do justice to a narration of Kick for Salman. Before Sajid could react to this shocker, Shirish dropped an even bigger bomb. Shirish suggested that Sajid should himself direct Kick since he, Sajid, had envisioned the whole project. Too numbed to react, Sajid got up to see Shirish to the door. They hugged and it was mutually decided that the announcement of Shirish’s exit from Kick would be made after the release of Joker.” Here’s where Shirish’s behaviour gets even more baffling. Apparently immediately after he left Sajid Nadiadwala’s office Shirish, messaged to Salman informing the superstar he was no longer directing Kick. Says Nadiadwala’s friend, “Salman immediately contacted Sajid to ask what was going on. Sajid apprised Salman of the whole situation. Salman promptly suggested to Sajid, ‘You direct Kick.’ Salman has been urging Sajid to turn director for ten years. But earlier Sajid never considered the prospect of turning director seriously. But after this incident, when Shirish walked out of the project and Salman suggested that Sajid take over, Sajid saw no reason to avoid the inevitable plunge. He decided to take over the direction of Kick.” The film starts shooting in early 2013. Where does this ‘Kick’ back leave Shirish Kunder’s career? According to Sajid Nadiadwala’s friend, “Shirish definitely has some plan up his sleeve. Otherwise he would have never walked out of Kick so coolly.” Kunder’s next move would decidedly provide an interesting twist to this tale.