Dhurandhar 2’s Bade Sahab actor spent 8 hours on make-up chair, says he didn’t audition for the role: ‘The script was a secret document’

In a new interview with Zoom, Danish recalled how he landed the key part. “Mukesh Chhabra is an amazing casting director. He’s done such a fabulous casting of the whole film. His choices are so brilliant. So, it was my good fortune that Mukesh sir considered me fit enough to be a part of this film. You won’t believe I didn’t have to audition for the film. He’d seen my previous work, so cast me on that basis. I’m really touched. Then we started the prep and they sent me the scenes,” said Danish.

Dhurandhar 2 script was a ‘secret document’

However, he revealed that he was only narrated his scenes instead of being offered the entire script. “The script was kept like a secret document. I hadn’t read the whole script. I didn’t know what was happening before or after my part. Neither was I narrated that nor did I tried to find out. Usually, an actor needs to know the base of the story in order to form their backstory,” Danish said.

Danish recalled how the makers assured him that they’d send the full script once it’s ready, but the script never made it to him. “Now I realise the idea was to never share it because the script was ready as early as the start of 2024. But there are so many twists and turns, and so much confidentiality. Now that the film is out, I can understand how important it was for them to protect it like that,” he added.

8 hours of prosthetic to look like Bade Sahab

The toughest challenge of playing Bade Sahab was applying the heavy prosthetic. “The character is 80-85 years old, and that too sick. That sickness should also reflect in the makeup,” pointed out Danish. He admitted that he had a phobia from the prosthetic, given the long, ordeal process it entailed. “It used to take at least seven-eight hours to apply the prosthetic and two to two-and-a-half hours to remove it,” he revealed.

Danish admitted it used to take him a while to get out of the role mentally. “It used to take an hour to get out of it mentally because you’d been wearing that heavy makeup for 12 hours. It takes a lot of concentration. It’s not like any other role that you can switch on and switch off,” claimed Danish. “I had to sum up some courage. I often felt like running away and not do the part,” he added, laughing.

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Co-produced by Aditya and Lokesh Dhar’s B62 Studios and Jyoti Deshpande-led Jio Studios, Dhurandhar 2 sees Ranveer Singh, Arjun Rampal, R Madhvan, Sanjay Dutt, Sara Arjun, and Rakesh Bedi reprise their roles from the first part from last year. The sequel has already crossed Rs 600 crore at the domestic box office and Rs 800 crore worldwide.