Sunil Grover was considered for this role in Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna’s blockbuster; he was replaced by…

Sunil Grover thinks about Dhurandhar

Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar has been praised for presenting both well-known and lesser-known actors in strikingly different avatars; casting director Mukesh Chhabra said that this creative decision was aimed at surprising the audience. Critics and audiences alike praised the spy thriller for its performance as Ranveer Singh as undercover spy Hamza Ali Mazari along with its star-studded supporting cast that includes R Madhavan as Indian spy chief Ajay Sanyal, Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam, Akshaye Khanna as real-life gangster Rehman Dakait and Arjun Rampal as ISI Major Iqbal, a character inspired by terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri. as well as the audience praised it.

Mukesh told PTI: “I always think about how to surprise people and make the cast look more interesting, funny and fresh. That’s what I wanted to do with this film. People were expecting surprises in this film and hence, I wanted to turn things around with the casting. Everyone should feel that this is a well-thought-out thing and that we are not choosing someone randomly.”

Chhabra also added that he and Aditya spent around a year and a half to finalize the cast and initially considered actors who had made a strong impression through their work on OTT platforms. The casting director shared that Ranveer was already attached to the project and the first actor he approached was R Madhavan and he immediately got on board with the project.

“With every casting, we literally spent so much time thinking about whether Arjun, Madhavan, Sanju baba or Akshaye would be right. Every day, me and Aditya would sit for two to four hours, discussing names, fighting, ‘He (the actor) might work, he might not work, let’s surprise people, let’s try harder and push ourselves.’ we would argue. “Earlier, we had other names, OTT faces, then we thought of making it (the film) bigger,” he said. For the role of gangster Rehman Dakait, Mukesh said that they had a long list of 50 to 60 actors from various backgrounds, including the names of South film actors, but ultimately chose veteran star Khanna.

While the stars certainly brought their best game to the film, moviegoers were also surprised to see actors like Gaurav Gera, Naveen Kaushik of Rocket Singh fame and veteran actor Rakesh Bedi in the film. Gera, known for his role as Nandu in the popular TV show Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, plays the role of Aalam, the confidant of Singh’s character, while Kaushik plays the role of Donga, a member of Khanna’s gang. Bedi has a prominent role as Pakistani politician Jameel Jamali.

“We did a lot of auditions for the role of Donga and Aalam and that’s why the process takes 1-1.5 years because you had to see how the performance would turn out and how it could surprise people,” he said. Mukesh revealed that he also considered casting Sunil Grover for the role of Aalam, but ultimately decided to cast Gera. For the lead actress, she said they auditioned 1,300 girls before zeroing in on newcomer Sara Arjun. She plays the role of Yalina Jamali, the daughter of Bedi’s character, who becomes romantically involved with Ranveer’s spy Humza.

Overall, Mukesh said that Dhurandhar is a film that he will always be proud of and that his love and enthusiasm for the film is “unmatched”. Mukesh Chhabra concluded, “Last year I did a lot of things; Tere Ishq Mein, Delhi Crime, The Family Man 3, Maharani and others. But my love for Dhurandhar is something I have for Gangs of Wasseypur, Koi Po Che and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.”

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