De De Pyaar De 2

De De Pyaar De 2: Age-Gap Rom-Com On Screen, Full-Blown Drama Off It

Bollywood gave us De De Pyaar De 2 as a “family entertainer,” but behind the polite press junkets lives a far juicier story: alleged almost-affairs, dengue-induced chaos, paycheque shocks and one mysteriously missing queen named Tabu.

Grab your popcorn. The sequel’s messier than Ashish’s love life.

Romance Rumors: Ajay & Rakul – “Sirf Co-Stars”… Really?

The hottest chatter around De De Pyaar De 2 isn’t in the film at all—it’s in the blinds.

• On gossip hub BollyBlindsNGossip, users claim Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh have been the subject of affair rumors since Runway 34, with that buzz rolling straight into the De De Pyaar De franchise era .
• Rumor has it the two were “way too comfortable” during earlier shoots—late nights, constant togetherness, and Rakul suddenly “very visible around Ajay’s camp” ^[1].
• What PR positioned as “mentor–mentee vibes” was reframed in blinds as a “married superstar who never really stopped mixing work with pleasure” ^[1].
• One commenter summed up Bollywood’s collective side-eye: “Jahan itna smoke hai, thodi fire toh hogi.” ^[1]

• Fans on the same thread even point out a phase when Kajol’s Instagram posts turned oddly cryptic, which gossip addicts eagerly connected to these Ajay–Rakul whispers ^[1]. This is pure speculation, but it’s become part of the franchise’s unofficial lore.

• Meanwhile, in public, Rakul keeps things squeaky clean. In interviews she insists her equation with Ajay is formal and rooted in respect, explicitly saying she can’t even call him a “friend” because of the age and seniority gap—he’s always “Ajay sir” to her, not a buddy . It’s the most polite way to slam the door on those romance rumors without actually slamming it.

Status check: Absolutely nothing is confirmed—but the rumor mill clearly decided De De Pyaar De 2 is more than just an “age-gap” film. It became an age-gap gossip festival too.

On-Set Drama & Performance Shade

The film may be about family drama, but fans swear the real fireworks were happening in front of the monitor.

• A brutal BollyBlinds thread labeled “Rakul was just unbearable in DDPD 2” tears into her performance, calling her constant high-decibel delivery “blatantly shouting” and saying it unintentionally made R. Madhavan look like the superior, more grounded performer .
• One commenter moaned that the emotional “I trust papa and his choice” scene “could have been so good but she just ruined it” ^[3].
• Another said they actually started rooting for Madhavan’s character over hers because of how shrill she came off ^[3].

• Ajay Devgn, on the other hand, is roasted for barely registering onscreen:
• “Was he even in the movie? Just a flower pot here, or just a pot,” sneers one commenter ^[3].
• Another jokes, “Ajay ko koi sulao yaar, neend mein hai bechara”—basically accusing him of sleepwalking through the film ^[3].

• By contrast, R. Madhavan is hyped as the one “holding the movie together,” with fans describing him as the emotional center of the film ^[3]. Meezaan Jafri also gets surprise love, called “a treat” and “actually good” despite limited expectations ^[3].

This is all fan commentary, of course, but it’s the kind of unfiltered reaction that quietly shapes a film’s reputation long after the box office closes.

Casting Chaos & The Mystery of Missing Tabu

You can’t talk De De Pyaar De 2 gossip without addressing the elephant not in the room: Tabu.

• When the trailer dropped and fans realized Tabu was nowhere to be seen, social media went into full meltdown. Comments like “Missing Tabu” popped up under first-look posts, and speculation exploded about what went wrong .

• Loading Instagram post…

  https://www.instagram.com/p/DP2wQYEk8G3/

  https://www.instagram.com/p/DP2wQYEk8G3/

• Ajay Devgn eventually had to address it publicly. At a media interaction, he confirmed she is “not a part of De De Pyaar De 2”, but coyly added that “hopefully, when two families meet in the next film, she will be there”—a giant wink toward a possible De De Pyaar De 3 ^[4][5].
• Several outlets framed this as a “Tabu will be back for Part 3” tease, but notably, no one provided a clear reason for her absence in Part 2 ^[4][5]. Cue fan theories about creative clashes, schedule issues, or quiet disagreements—none of which have been confirmed.

• While critics politely note that the sequel hands more weight to Rakul’s character and shifts the conflict to R. Madhavan’s dad role, fans remain convinced: without Tabu, something’s missing—and they’re still side-eyeing the decision ^[4].

Money Talk: The Wild Paycheque Gap

Behind every pretty poster is a line of cheques, and on De De Pyaar De 2, the numbers are… dramatic.

Industry reporting laid out the alleged fee structure like this :

• Ajay Devgn – ₹40 crore (lead, and by far the highest-paid)

R. Madhavan – ₹9 crore

Rakul Preet Singh – ₹4.5 crore

Gautami Kapoor – around ₹1 crore

Jaaved Jaaferi – ₹2–3 crore

• Meezaan Jafri – part of the cast, exact fee not revealed ^[7]

Fans on socials and forums have pointed out that Ajay reportedly made nearly nine times what Rakul did—even though the entire story revolves around their age-gap romance again ^[7]. Add that to a film already being dissected for its gender politics and “backhanded wokeness,” and you’ve got yourself a neat little discourse grenade.

Production Setbacks: When Dengue Stopped the Shoot

Real-life twist: before the onscreen drama, there was a literal health scare behind the camera.

• In September 2024, reports revealed that director Anshul Sharma had contracted dengue while the film was shooting in Patiala, Punjab .
• Only 7–8 days of filming had been completed when he fell ill, forcing the production to pause entirely.
• The unit returned to Mumbai and the team had to rework the schedule, planning to resume both Mumbai and Patiala shoots only after Anshul recovered and dates lined up for the large ensemble cast ^[8].

• The sequel was initially being positioned for a May 1, 2025 release, but it ultimately landed in theaters on November 14, 2025, suggesting that dengue derailment wasn’t just a minor hiccup—it likely reshaped the entire timeline ^[8][7].

No on-set screaming matches or walkouts here—just a reminder that sometimes the drama is less PR scandal, more “please get well soon so we can finish this movie.”

Scandals, Backlash & “Backhanded Wokeness”

The De De Pyaar De brand has always tiptoed along a controversy line, and Part 2 lived up to that tradition.

• A detailed review from a Bollywood-focused outlet points straight at Luv Ranjan’s reputation for misogyny, noting that his films “often carry traces” of it, and reading De De Pyaar De 2 as an attempt to “break that image” six years after the first film ^[6].
• The female lead is given more agency and voice, especially in the father–daughter ideological clash.
• But the same review says misogyny still “looms as a possibility” in the final act, which the writers try hard to justify ^[6].

• Another critic calls the sequel “too oversmart for its own good”, accusing it of peddling a “brand of backhanded wokeness”—pretending to be progressive while quietly reinforcing the same old tropes ^[6].

• Loading Instagram post…

  https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRUw4fqk7-M/

  https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRUw4fqk7-M/

• Social media creators picked up the baton, with Instagram reels labeling the film “PROBLEMATIC” and calling out everything from Ajay’s age-gap romance to the way infidelity and control are framed as comedy ^[9]. Clips of Rakul’s monologues went viral—some praising her intensity, others mocking the messaging.

So while the CBFC shockingly gave the film a clean pass (more on that below), the court of public opinion stayed messy.

Censor Board Plot Twist: ZERO Cuts, For Once

In a franchise that started with sanskaari edits (remember when they digitally swapped out Rakul’s alcohol bottle for flowers in the first film?), De De Pyaar De 2 pulled a surprise:

• The CBFC passed the sequel with ZERO cuts. No muted dialogues, no blurred glasses, no mysteriously cropped shots—nothing .
• The film received a U/A 13+ certificate with a runtime of about 147 minutes ^[10].
• Trade coverage called it a “rare development”, especially compared to how relationship and morality-heavy films usually get chopped up ^[10].

For a movie built around an older man romancing a much younger woman and arguing with her parents about it, gliding through the censors untouched is its own kind of flex.

Rakul, Surgeries & Social Media Fire

The Rakul discourse did not stop at performance critiques.

• In December 2025, Rakul blasted a man claiming to be a plastic surgeon who’d posted a viral video alleging she’d had certain cosmetic procedures. She clapped back publicly, saying she had no issue with people choosing surgery but demanded honesty and responsibility from those commenting on others’ faces .
• Coverage of the incident noted that she had recently carried several emotional scenes in De De Pyaar De 2 without a body double, framing that as proof of her commitment and confidence on screen ^[11].

• Combined with the gossip linking her to Jackie Bhagnani and the constant scrutiny of her age-gap pairing with Ajay, Rakul has basically become the franchise’s lightning rod—for praise, trolling and every thinkpiece in between ^{[1][3][9][11]}.

The Gossip Verdict

Is De De Pyaar De 2 just a frothy age-gap comedy? Publicly, yes. But lurking behind the meet-the-parents jokes is:

• An unconfirmed but persistent Ajay–Rakul rumor cycle ^[1].
• Fan wars over Rakul’s acting vs. Madhavan and Meezaan “saving” the film ^[3].
• A mysteriously Tabu-less sequel, with promises but no straight answers ^[4][5].
• A massive pay gap that has become part of the conversation around gender and stardom ^[7].
• A director literally knocked off set by dengue ^[8].
• And a creative team still wrestling with Luv Ranjan’s misogyny baggage while insisting they’ve evolved ^[6].

In other words: even if you’ve watched the film, the real drama is still playing out online.