Wanted to surprise people with the casting in ‘Dhurandhar’: Casting director Mukesh Chhabra

Mumbai: Aditya Dhar's "Dhurandhar" has drawn praise for presenting both established and lesser-known actors in strikingly different avatars, a creative decision that casting director Mukesh Chhabra says was aimed at surprising the audience.

The movie, which follows covert intelligence operations set against a backdrop of geopolitical and terror events like Kandahar plane hijack, 2001 Parliament Attack and 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was released on December 5 and has amassed over Rs 250 crore at the domestic box office.

Both critics and audiences have praised "Dhurandhar" for Ranveer Singh’s performance as undercover spy Hamza Ali Mazari, along with its star-studded supporting cast featuring R Madhavan as Indian spymaster 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.

“I always think about how to surprise people, and how to make casting look more interesting, funny and fresh. With this film, I wanted to do that. People were expecting twists in this film, and therefore, I wanted to twist things with the casting. Every person should feel that it is a well thought out thing and that we have not casted someone randomly," Chhabra told PTI in an interview.

The film, which has led to polarising reactions from many critics and people in India, is mostly set in Lyari town of Karachi, an area known for its history of gang wars and violent turf battles.

The casting director said he and Dhar spent nearly a year and a half finalising the cast and initially considered actors who had made a strong impression through their work on OTT platforms.

Ranveer Singh was already attached to the project, Chhabra added, noting that R Madhavan was the first actor he approached and that the actor immediately came on board.

“With each and every casting, we literally spent so much time on thinking whether Arjun, Madhavan, Sanju baba or Akshaye would be correct or not. Every day, me and Aditya would sit for two to four hours, bouncing names, fighting, discussing, ‘It (actor) might work, not work, let's surprise people, let's go extra, and push ourselves’. Earlier, we had some other names of (actors), we had OTT faces (actors), then we thought of making it (film) bigger,” he said.

For the role of gangster Rehman Dakait, Chhabra said they had a lengthy list of 50 to 60 actors from various backgrounds, including names of South movie actors, but ultimately they cast seasoned star Khanna, known for delivering critically-acclaimed performances in movies such as “Chhaava”, "Dil Chahta Hai”, “Border” and "Humraaz".

Chhabra had earlier suggested the actor for the 2017 film "Mom", starring Sridevi.

“You can do a good casting only when you take more time to think rather than approaching immediately,” Chhabra said.

While the stars definitely brought their A-game to the movie, moviegoers were also surprised to see actors like Gaurav Gera, Naveen Kaushik of "Rocket Singh" fame and veteran actor Rakesh Bedi in the movie.

Gera, best known for playing Nandu on hit TV show "Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi", plays the role of Aalam, a confidante of Singh's character, while Kaushik essays the role of Donga, a member of Khanna's gang. Bedi has a prominent role as the 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’ve had to see how the performance will turn out, and how it can surprise people," he said.

Chhabra revealed that he also thought of roping in Sunil Grover for the role of Aalam but ultimately decided to cast Gera.

For the leading lady, he said they auditioned 1,300 girls before zeroing on newcomer Sara Arjun. She plays the role of Yalina Jamali, the daughter of Bedi's character, who gets romantically-involved with Singh's spy Humza.

Overall, Chhabra said "Dhurandhar" is a film he will always be proud of and the kind of love and enthusiasm he has received for the film has been “unmatchable”.

“I've done so many things in the last year, ‘Tere Ishq Mein’, ‘Delhi Crime’, ‘The Family Man 3’, ‘Maharani’, and many others. But the love I'm getting for ('Dhurandhar') is something that I had got for ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, ‘Koi Po Che!’, and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’,” he said.

The film marks the second collaboration between the casting director and Dhar after the 2024 movie, "Article 370", which was written and produced by Dhar.

The experience of working with the director was "creatively fulfilling and interesting", said Chhabra.

"The good part about Aditya is that the brief is so clear and he's the only decision maker, there are not so many people sitting in the discussion room. Today, everyone sits and is involved in the casting (of actors), those who don’t know about casting also give their views. But that didn’t happen with this film," Chhabra said.

A follow-up, “Dhurandhar: Part 2 – Revenge”, is scheduled to release on March 19, 2026. The movie is presented by Jio Studios and B62 Studios, and produced by Aditya alongside Jyoti Deshpande and Lokesh Dhar.