Dhurandhar’s Shirani, Bimal Oberoi, made his debut with Daler Mehndi’s ‘Ho Jayegi Balle Balle’: ‘He gave me 12 cheques of Rs 10,000 each’

He went on to describe a gesture that helped him take his first steps in Mumbai. “He gave me 12 cheques of Rs 10,000 each for a year—handed them to me together and said, ‘this is your monthly expense, now start your journey.’ That is how our association began.”

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Featuring in Daler Mehndi music video

Interestingly, Oberoi’s on-screen journey also began almost by chance during a music video shoot. He featured in Daler Mehndi’s popular song “Ho Jayegi Balle Balle”.

“When he came to shoot Ho Jayegi Balle Balle, I had just gone along for the shoot. The directors said there is a part—can we give it to Bimal? Paaji said yes, and it was decided there itself. I ended up playing a main part in the video, and that song became a huge hit.”

‘My first film was Anubhav Sinha’s Tum Bin’

Before stepping into acting full-time, Oberoi spent years working behind the scenes, learning filmmaking and production.

“My first film was Anubhav Sinha’s Tum Bin. He involved me in casting and scripting—I learned production with him.”

He added that even before films, he was actively involved in the music industry.

“Before that, we used to do music videos—Daler Mehndi, Pankaj Udhas, Sonu Nigam—we worked on very big albums.”

After Tum Bin, Oberoi continued to build his experience as an executive producer.

“I did three to four films as EP, mostly with friends on their debut projects—Tum Bin with Anubhav Sinha, Ferrari Ki Sawaari with Rajesh Mapuskar, and also Singh Is Kinng. I was also a production consultant on PK.”

Upcoming films with David Dhawan, Prashanth Neel

Bimal shared that he has a few projects lined up, including a film with David Dhawan and another with KGF director Prashanth Neel.

“There are some very good things in the pipeline. I have a role in David Dhawan’s film Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. I’ve also done an international film, a Canadian production. After Dhurandhar, I got another good film—Dragon by Prashanth Neel, and we’ve started shooting.”

He added that he continues to stay connected to theatre as well.

“I have been doing theatre for the last three to four years. We have already done around 50 shows.”

On working with Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna

In an earlier conversation with Mint, Oberoi shared his experience working with Ranveer Singh and Akashaye Khanna.

“Ranveer was so much into the film; he owned it. During the shoot, he wasn’t only Hamza, he would also be the first AD, he would also be the producer, making sure that if somebody new had joined the production, because I had joined quite late, everything was taken care of. On my first day, we had a very emotional conversation before a crucial scene. He made sure everything around me was perfect. That ice-breaking is very important. Though he is younger, he came across like a senior professional. That made the scene like a cakewalk—there was no inhibition after that.”

He also shared a memorable moment with Akshaye Khanna.

“With Akshaye, it was his introverted personality, in a good way. Our first sequence together was when I welcome him to my village. I said I’m seeing you after 30 years. I told him that he had come to Dalhousie for a shoot for his first film, and I was living in Amritsar at the time. I got to know that Vinod Khanna sahab had come there, so my friend and I rode a scooter for about 7–8 hours just to see him. He was very happy to hear that. And as I was walking away, he said, ‘Bimal, it was not 30 years, it was 31 years.’ It was lovely working with him. Even though we didn’t have much screen time together, it was still very good.”

Landing Dhurandhar after multiple auditions

Oberoi revealed that his role in Dhurandhar didn’t come easy. “They had already shot a major portion and were looking for this character. I auditioned multiple times over a few months. They would send it for feedback, call me again—it went back and forth. Then I met Aditya Dhar, and he asked me to grow a real beard and shave my head. I said yes immediately because it’s such an amazing role. A lot of preparation went into it. Since I restarted acting in 2018, this became a very important opportunity for me.”