Rajkumar Hirani reveals why he didn’t want to cast Vicky Kaushal in Dunki initially: ‘Then I got a call from him…’

Did you know that the role of Sukhi in Dunki landed in Vicky Kaushal's lap by chance, and that director Rajkumar Hirani did not want to cast the Sanju actor in his new film initially?

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Rajkumar Hirani's Dunki, starring Shah Rukh Khan in the lead and Vicky Kaushal in a supporting role, is now running in theatres. (Image: Red Chillies Entertainment/Facebook)

Amid the mixed response that his latest film, Dunki, has been receiving, director Rajkumar Hirani can take pride in his decision to cast Vicky Kaushal in a supporting role. Even the film’s detractors have agreed that Vicky’s performance was one of Dunki’s highlights. But did you know that the role of Sukhi landed in Vicky’s lap by chance, and that Hirani originally intended to cast newcomers for all the side characters, including Sukhi?

Reflecting on an early conversation with Dunki’s stunt director and Vicky’s father, Sham Kaushal, Hirani told NDTV, “As we were chatting, the topic of casting came up. When he asked about the ideal boy for the role of Sukhi, I mentioned, ‘A boy like Vicky would be perfect’. However, I made it clear that I wouldn’t offer him the role because it’s a small role. Now he’s doing lead roles, so I wouldn’t offer it to him. Sham didn’t say anything.”

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“That night, I got a call from Vicky, and he said, ‘How could you tell dad that you can’t offer the role to me?’ He met me the very next day, and it was kind of him to take on that role. It also showed what a good actor can do with a role like that, and Vicky made the biggest difference to the film,” he added.

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Before Dunki, Vicky Kaushal had played a key role in Hirani’s Sanju, a biographical comedy-drama chronicling the life of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, starring Ranbir Kapoor in the titular role. Vicky’s performance as Kamlesh had earned widespread acclaim.

In her review of Dunki, The Indian Express’ Shubhra Gupta noted: “In the 161-minute run-time of the Rajkumar Hirani film, I was hard put to find anything that made me feel. Even Shah Rukh Khan’s Hardy comes off as working too hard for not enough pay-off.” In under 10 days of release, Dunki has grossed nearly Rs 350 crore worldwide so far.

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