Casting director-turned-actor Abhishek Banerjee had an amazing 2024. His film Stree 2 became one of the highest-grossers of the year. Now, with an even brighter year ahead, Abhishek sat down for a conversation with SCREEN, talking about the success of Stree 2, his brush with stardom, casting couch and more. In a fun segment during the interview, the actor also revealed how during the shoot of Bhediya, Varun Dhawan embarrassed him in front of Kiara Advani. View this post on Instagram A post shared by SCREEN (@ieentertainment) Also Read: Abhishek Banerjee slams trend of casting influencers over actors solely based on followers: ‘There are already enough barriers for outsiders’ Abhishek Banerjee revealed, “Varun Dhawan is very naughty. He has a dialogue ‘Dikhta hu main sweet innocent swami type ka…’, he is that in real life. We were shooting for Bhediya and he just happened to ask me who was my crush among actresses. We were sitting in a car and couldn’t get out because there were cameras on both sides. He kept asking, so I said Kiara Advani. The next thing I knew, he called her and told her I had a crush on her. It was so embarrassing, but she was sweet enough not to mind it. That’s when I realized that I could not tell him anything.” Abhishek also shared that he was among the first to witness Shraddha Kapoor showcase her knack for various accents. He said, “We were the first audience who saw her talk in different accents. During Stree, there was a camera glitch. We were waiting for our shot and had mics in our hand. We were doing an entertainment program for the crew and Shraddha started doing accents. We heard it before everyone else did.” Watch Abhishek Banerjee's entire interview here: Talking about the success of Stree 2, Abhishek Banerjee shared, “It felt like the backbenchers were toppers suddenly. None of us expected it to be a mammoth success. We knew we had created something that would be impressive, but we did not know it would be an all-time blockbuster. By the second or third day, we broke records. We were having dinner and celebrating, but it didn’t sink in till very late that we were a part of history. It has added a lot of value to our work and also added a lot of responsibility.” Abhishek lastly lauded his Stree 2 co-star Rajkummar Rao and shared, “He is a very hard-working guy. He is so disciplined that sometimes I feel I am not doing enough. He is also very caring towards his co-stars and has no sense of insecurity. There is no competition. Raj is always very collaborative and that is the best part about him.”
