‘Main Shahid Kapoor banke reh jaunga’: Abhishek Chaubey was afraid to cast Alia Bhatt in Udta Punjab; Kareena Kapoor felt Shahid-Alia had bigger roles

When Abhishek asked Shahid about his decision, the actor explained, “I will never get a chance to play a character like this. Main Shahid Kapoor banke raha jaunga (I will remain a Shahid Kapoor). This is my chance to do something different.” Abhishek later narrated the full script to him, and Shahid immediately agreed. “There was never a doubt in his mind,” the director said.

Interestingly, it was Shahid who played a key role in bringing Alia Bhatt on board. Abhishek recalled, “Shahid was doing Shaandaar with Alia, and he mentioned the film on the set to her. She got really excited and Shahid offered to give her the script to read. Obviously, I didn’t know this all was happening.”

Talking about Alia’s capabilities, Abhishek admitted that initially, he wasn’t convinced. “Later, Shahid told me to take Alia in the film, but I had only seen her work in Student Of The Year and I told him, ‘Are you joking? How will she play this role?’ Shahid told me that she is smart but then also… Then I saw Highway and I realised that she’s a good actor. However, I was still scared of casting her,” he said.

Eventually, it was Alia’s persistence that won him over. Abhishek recalled her calling him for a meeting, during which she passionately explained why she wanted to be part of the film. “She told me her intention behind doing the film, and I really liked what she said and I said, ‘let’s do it.'”

Finally, Abhishek turned his attention to Kareena Kapoor Khan. Her role as a doctor was impactful, though it had limited screen time, which made the filmmaker nervous about convincing her. “After Alia, I met Kareena. She heard the script, she was very happy, but she also said that Shahid and Alia have bigger roles. I convinced her a lot and she very sweetly came on board.”