Not Vicky Kaushal, but Rajkummar Rao was the FIRST choice for Masaan; know how the tables turned

Vicky Kaushal recently revealed that it was not him but Rajkummar Rao, who was the first choice for his role in Masaan.

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

December 24, 2022 - 8:58 PM IST

Masaan is undoubtedly one of the finest performances of actor Vicky Kaushal. The film was no less than a one-time opportunity to showcase his talent for him. But much to his fans’ surprise, he was never the first choice for the character he played in the film. In fact, the first choice was Rajkummar Rao. Vicky made this shocking revelation on the sets of the popular comedy show, The Kapil Sharma Show.

Not Vicky Kaushal, but Rajkummar Rao was the FIRST choice for Masaan; know how the tables turned

Taking a trip down memory lane, the critically-acclaimed actor asserted, “This dates back to 2010 when I wanted to become an actor and Neeraj Ghaywan wanted to pursue direction. We both started our journey together as assistant directors in Gangs of Wasseypur. So, post that I started doing theatre to enhance my acting skills. In 2013, we met again while travelling to Pune and we started talking about life and work.”

“During the conversation, I got to know that he is making a film and is in search of a producer but is struggling with it. He then shared that he has made a pilot promo on the film with Rajkummar Rao. Owing to Masaan's tight budget, they could not create a mela, but had to wait to shoot a real one.”

The URI actor further elaborated, “The mela in Benaras usually happens in the month of October and there were some issues with Raj's dates so there was a vacancy for that role, and I jumped right into it. After giving auditions, I was finally selected for that role.”

Interestingly, Vicky also recalled how while shooting a scene, he started crying in reality: “In the scene 'Yeh dukh kaahe khatam na hota be', I cried a lot. I was not supposed to cry, but somehow, I ended up crying and wailing. Also, I had to act drunk for the scene, so to make it look natural, I got drunk for the first time in my life. I knew it was an intense scene and I had to give my best.”

The Raazi actor continued and said, “So, the scene ended and in the background, there was a bridge on which a train was leaving, I heard the horn and automatically said 'Tu kisi rail si guzarti hai ... main kisi pul sa thartharaata hoon'. After just completing the sentence, I could not hold back my tears.”

He went on to say, “It looked so natural that Neeraj said that we have to keep this scene. After shooting the film, the whole crew left, only Neeraj, Avinash (the DOP), and I were left. We three took a stroll in the ghats of Banaras and Neeraj tells us that he does not want me crying in two scenes and asks if we can shoot the ring-throwing scene again.”

Concluding the story, the actor said, “Luckily, Avinash had his small camera, so we reshot that scene under a lamppost. The best part was that Neeraj used his white shirt as a reflector as there was not enough light. And that's how the picture was made.”

Coming to the professional front, the actor is currently making headlines for his latest release Govinda Naam Mera, co-starring Bhumi Pednekar and Kiara Advani.

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