Director Raaj Shaandilyaa opened up recently about replacing Nushrratt Bharuccha in Dream Girl 2 and said that the actor should move on, while expressing his interest to work with her in his new film. Earlier, in an interview with Nayandeep Rakshit, Nushrratt reflected how she was hurt when she was not made part of the sequel and was replaced by Ananya Panday.

Explaining the decision to not cast Nushrratt in the film, Raaj told Etimes that the film was not a sequel but a franchise film. He said that the story of the first part ended there and they wanted to narrate a different story in Dream Girl 2. "We wanted to narrate a different story, and so we took the plot ahead with the core characters played by Ayushmann, Manjot and Annu Kapoor, and we cast Ananya in it."

He also recalled that Nushrratt had asked him why she wasn’t a part of the sequel and he had given her the same explanation that they needed a new actor for the new story. “There's no room for disappointment because when we will make the third part, we will cast a new girl in it. Ananya won’t be there,” he said.

Raaj also called Nushrratt a dear friend and said that he wants to do more films with her. "I think an actor should be prepared to deal with all this because our industry is like this, where stories and characters keep changing. Ab purani baatein chhodo, aage badhte hai (Let us forget old things and move on)."

Nushrratt said in the interview that she didn’t want to fight with the makers of Dream Girl 2 for not casting her because they had made up their minds. “I can’t fight something I know is not going to change in any way; what do I fight? What am I going to say? ‘Why not me?’ They’ll say, ‘because we don’t want you.’ That’s the truth of it; it ends there. Eventually, it’s the choice somebody’s making, right? I cannot question your choice,” she said.

She was last seen in the supernatural-horror film Chhorii 2 alongside Soha Ali Khan.