The million dollar question zipping around town: Why did Anushka Shetty walk out of the Raghava Lawrence film Rebel?

Now a source from Hyderabad has come up with the answer. As everyone knows, Anushka was the first choice for Lawrence’s earlier hit flick Kanchana, but the dusky babe turned down the offer, saying it had nothing to inspire her.

After that the two-month Telugu film industry strike began and the leggy lass put on some weight at a time when the entire industry was sitting at home without any work.

After work resumed, actor Prabhas, who plays the lead in the Lawrence-directed Rebel, took the initiative and brought Anushka on board for the movie.

Everything went smoothly to begin with, till Lawrence’s ego started coming in the way and he wanted to hit back at Anushka for rejecting his earlier flick.

Sources said he was constantly criticising the pounds she’d put on and kept saying he expected her to return to her slender looks of her Arunthadhi days.

Apparently, after a point Anushka couldn’t take Lawrence’s behaviour any more and decided to call it off.

Grapevine has it that Prabhas, upset by the bad vibes, had to intervene and sort things out.
When DC contacted Lawrence, the choreographer-turned-filmmaker dismissed the reports as baseless rumours.

“The reasons are purely professional. Anushka opted out of Rebel because she could not adjust her dates. In fact, I had already shot with her for two days for the film, a few months back. Her subsequent dates could not be used because of the film industry strike. This is a ‘mass’ film like my earlier film with Nagarjuna and in fact, I wanted my heroine to look voluptuous! So, the question of me commenting adversely on her weight does not arise. As far as I am concerned, she looks perfect.”

He also revealed that Tamannah will not be replacing Anushka and that they are still on the lookout for a heroine.