The man who brought the entire star-studded cast of the Aditya Dhar-directed movie Dhurandhar together, Mukesh Chhabra, recently opened up about the film's challenging casting process. He revealed that it took him an entire year to get the entire cast on board and the task became even more daunting after casting a big celebrity like Ranveer Singh. Mukesh admitted that bringing and convincing top actors was beyond difficult. While talking about convincing actors, he shared that he even faced the wrath of Akshaye Khanna and how he convinced him to portray the role of Rehman Dakait.
Mukesh Chhabra recently revealed the casting process of Dhurandhar and shared that Ranveer Singh was already on board when he came to join the team as the casting director. In a conversation with India Today, he shared that having Ranveer on the team made it "impossible to get more stars" as the movie already had one big actor. He further added, "That's how the Mumbai film industry works. It didn’t matter whether it was Danish Pandor, Rakesh Bedi, Akshaye Khanna or R Madhavan. Even the smallest casting idea was done meticulously."
Mukesh admitted that Aditya thought he was crazy when he revealed his big plans for the film's casting and said that no one actually believed that Akshaye would say yes to the project.
Talking about Akshaye's first reaction when he proposed the movie to him. Mukesh said, "I honestly hadn't watched Chhava then. But I called him. Unhone pehle mujhe daanta (He first scolded me). He said 'Paagal hogya hai kya?(have you gone mad?)'I asked him to at least hear me out once."
After continuous efforts, Akshaye finally agreed to meet him and Aditya and he himself came to meet them. Mukesh said, "I asked him to come to the office. He said, ‘Main toh yahan rehta hi nahi hoon. Bol kahan aana hai (I don’t even live here. Tell me where you want to meet me?)’”
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Mukesh recalled the meeting and said, "He came and sat for four hours. He quietly listened. He kept smoking. When we finished, he said, ‘F**k, it’s very good’. Then he said, ‘Well done, yaar. Bada maza aayega.'”
Dhurandhar Box Office Report
Aditya Dhar directed movie Dhurandhar emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025. By Day 26, the film was able to bag a gross collection of Rs 1128 crores and a net collection of Rs 754 crores. Ranveer Singh starrer is now the 7th-highest-grossing film ever.