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Did you know Ishqiya was initially supposed to feature THIS actress along with Irrfan Khan and Pankaj Tripathi? Abhishek Chaubey reveals
In a recent interview, Ishqiya director Abhishek Chaubey revealed that Pankaj Tripathi and Irrfan Khan were first planned to star in the movie. A famous actress was also supposed to join them. Read on.
Ishqiya was the directorial debut project of filmmaker Abhishek Chaubey. With his first movie, the director cemented his position as one of the most skilled artists in the industry. However, neither the script nor the casting was finalized in the first attempt. During an interview, Chaubey revealed that he had to rework the script in New York after it was rejected by many. He also stated that the dark comedy was initially supposed to feature Preity Zinta along with Irrfan Khan and Pankaj Tripathi.
Abhishek Chaubey, in a conversation with Mashable India, spoke about his first film as a director, Ishqiya. The filmmaker shared that the script of the movie had been outright rejected by everyone. However, he didn’t lose hope and went to New York to work on it. Eventually, with the help of Sabrina Dhawan—the writer of films like Monsoon Wedding and Kaminey—he was able to finalize the script.
While he was working on the project, Abhishek learned that Preity Zinta, who had read and loved the script, had left the project. He further revealed that initially, Pankaj Tripathi was set to play the role of Naseeruddin Shah’s character (Khalujaan), while Irrfan Khan was supposed to portray Babban (later played by Arshad Warsi). Additionally, actress Lara Dutta was also approached for the film. However, none of them came on board.
During this time, Chaubey met Irrfan in New York and narrated the basic story of the film to him. However, the Angrezi Medium actor felt that the changes made to the script did not favor his character. That was when the Dedh Ishqiya director realized that Khan wouldn’t be working on the project. “While great things happened with the script, terrible things happened behind the scenes,” Abhishek stated.
Upon returning to Mumbai, Abhishek began looking for a new cast. Eventually, they approached Vidya Balan to play Krishna Verma. Fortunately, the actress said "yes" after the first narration. Naseeruddin Shah then became the obvious choice for Khalujaan. However, the veteran actor was initially hesitant about romancing on screen, something he hadn’t done before. After this, Arshad Warsi came on board, and the movie went on to become a hit at the box office.
ALSO READ: 7 best Pankaj Tripathi movies on Netflix that showcase his spellbinding performance
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