Actor Taapsee Pannu recently shared the screen with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in Rajkumar Hirani’s latest release, Dunki. Being cast in a film with a prolific director as Hirani at the helm and a co-star as big as Shah Rukh was ‘surreal’ for Taapsee. In a recent interview, the actor opened up about her casting in the movie and how nobody in the industry believed that she was cast in Dunki.
While speaking to Pinkvilla, Taapsee revealed that Hirani had first contacted her after the release of Anurag Kashyap’s 2018 film Manmarziyaan. He told her how impressed he was with her performance and even called her, along with Vicky Kaushal, to meet him. “He was so sweet to ask, ‘What is your process?’ I never had such kind of interaction with any industry stalwart. It was a surreal feeling,” said Taapsee.
Two years later, Rajkumar Hirani once again called her, and this time to cast her in his movie Dunki. The filmmaker told Taapsee, “By now, you must have heard all the rumours. The media must have already told you that you are in the film. I thought I must also call and inform you that you are in the film.” The actor refused to believe what she heard “because the role was so good.” When Hirani asked her if she liked the script of Dunki, she told him, “Sir, if you would have cast me as a tree, even then I would have done this film.”
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Dunki is based on the theme of the Donkey route under which people take the illegal route to migrate to foreign lands in search of better work opportunities. In the film, Taapsee and her two friends take the donkey route to fulfil their dreams. Shah Rukh plays a soldier in the movie.
Besides Taapsee Pannu, nobody around her was ready to believe she was part of Dunki. “Even after the first schedule was completed, everyone kept asking me, ‘Are you sure you are in the film?’ It was very difficult for everyone in the industry to wrap their head around how I got into this film. It was such an awkward, weird combination for someone like me to be in a film like this,” said Taapsee.
Dunki, also starring Vicky Kaushal and Boman Irani, was released in theatres on December 21. The film, which is Shah Rukh Khan’s third release of the year after Jawan and Pathaan, is having a decent run at the box office.
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