Dhurandhar casting director Mukesh Chhabra recently revealed in an interview that Akshaye Khanna first scolded him when he approached him with the role of Pakistani gangster Rehman Dakait and also asked Mukesh if he had “gone crazy.”
Talking about the casting process for the film, in an interview with India Today, Mukesh said that Ranveer Singh was already on board when he was appointed as the film’s casting director and that made it “impossible to get more stars.”
“That’s just how the Mumbai film industry works,” he said. “It didn’t matter whether it was Danish Pandor, Rakesh Bedi, Akshaye Khanna or R Madhavan. Even the smallest casting idea was done meticulously,” he added.
Mukesh also said that the makers initially did not believe that Akshaye would agree to be part of the film, given how selective he is with his projects. “I said, Akshaye paaji will do it. And then we all jumped on it,” Mukesh said.
Mukesh also spilled the beans on Akshaye’s reaction when he first proposed the film to him. “I honestly hadn’t watched Chhaava then. But I called him. Unhone pehle mujhe daanta (He first scolded me)”. He said, ‘Paagal ho gaya hai kya (Have you gone crazy)?’ I asked him to at least hear me out once,” he said.
Akshaye, Mukesh said, however, agreed to meet him and director Aditya Dhar and even drove himself to their office. “I asked him to come to the office. He said, ‘Main toh yahan rehta hi nahi hoon. Bol kahan aana hai (I don’t even live here. Tell me where you want to meet me?)’”
Recalling the meeting and the moment Akshaye agreed to do the film, Mukesh said, “He came and sat for four hours. He quietly listened. He kept smoking. When we finished, he said, ‘F**k, it’s very good’. Then he said, ‘Well done, yaar. Bada maza aayega (It will be fun).”
Despite Akshaye’s reassuring response, the makers remained uncertain for the next couple of days. However, their doubts were finally cleared when Akshaye called and confirmed. “He called me and said, ‘Let’s do it, bro,’” Mukesh recalled.
Dhurandhar turned out to be last year's biggest blockbusters. The film, directed by Aditya Dhar, also stars Ranveer Singh, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan and Sara Arjun.
