Mukesh Chhabra says there were fights between him and Atlee for the first two months over casting for Jawan: ‘It was very difficult’

Shah Rukh Khan starrer Jawan dominated the box-office, minting more than Rs 650 crores in India. The Atlee directorial also stars Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara, Deepika Padukone, Priyamani, Ridhi Dogra and Eijaz Khan among others. The casting director of the film, Mukesh Chhabra, has now opened up about how the casting process for Jawan was difficult and added that it took almost 1.5 years to finalise the cast for the movie.

In an interview with Humans of Bombay, Mukesh also spoke about working with Atlee and said, “It was very difficult because in South films, there is no ‘casting director culture’ and Atlee was coming from South. To understand him and his vision was difficult for me. He always kept saying, ‘Think big’. It was a bit difficult in the beginning and for at least two months, there were fights and friction between us. The conversation was not happening.”

Mukesh explained that it took about 1.5 years to actually understand what they wanted and find the right people through mix and match.

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The casting director also has a cameo in the film. Talking about his role, Mukesh said that Atlee told him to do it and added that he did it for fun. He said, “Atlee said, ‘You’re very funny, you keep cracking jokes, why don’t you do this?’ I said, ‘Sir, are you serious?’”

Shah Rukh Khan will next be seen in Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki. Mukesh, who is the casting director for Dunki, said that the film is going to be very special.