Casting discussions are intensifying for Vikramaditya Motwane’s upcoming biopic on former India captain Sourav Ganguly, with multiple roles still being finalized just weeks before the film goes on floors – an unusually tight timeline for a project of this scale. According to a source close to the production, Boman Irani is reportedly being considered to portray Ganguly’s father, Chandi Ganguly – though discussions are still ongoing. Casting for the role of Snehasish Ganguly – Sourav Ganguly’s elder brother and a former cricketer – remains under discussion, with no actor finalized so far. The film is scheduled to begin shooting in Kolkata from March 16.

Meanwhile, Gajraj Rao is being considered to play former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya. “Gajraj Rao delivered a remarkable performance in Maidaan (2024), and the production house is keen to bring him on board,” a source said, adding that the casting process is still underway.

Tollywood actress Aparajita Adhya is being considered for the role of Ganguly’s mother. Several other Bengali actors, including Abir Chatterjee, Rudranil Ghosh and Saswata Chatterjee, were considered for roles during the casting process, but factors such as look tests and date availability created hurdles, the source said. Casting for dancer and choreographer Dona Ganguly is yet to be finalized.

The biopic is expected to be shot across Kolkata, London and Mumbai over a 40-day schedule. Vikramaditya Motwane recently visited Kolkata with his team for a recce, including a visit to Eden Gardens, as pre-production gathers momentum ahead of the shoot schedule.

Rajkummar Rao, who will portray Sourav Ganguly in the biopic, is expected to undergo immersive preparation ahead of filming. Sources say he may spend time in Behala – the Kolkata neighbourhood where Ganguly grew up – and visit Eden Gardens, along with the coaching centre where he trained, to study the cricketer’s on- and off-field persona.

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Sourav Ganguly met Rajkummar Rao in Mumbai recently. Since everything in the film revolves around the cricketer, his consent is necessary at every step of the film’s production – A source close to production

Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa is one of those rare examples where different elements — from the imaginative art design to Abhishek Chaubey’s direction — came together to make a well-crafted short film. The cherry on top was Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao’s performances. Having bagged a spot in the Best Supporting Actor (Male): Series category of the mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards, Rao credits his performance to his easy chemistry with co-star. He has the perfect analogy to describe their chemistry:

“It was like seeing Sunil Gavaskar and [the late] Chetan Chauhan play after ages. [They] knew exactly when to take a run. Likewise, when you are well-tuned with your co-actor, you know exactly what to do in a scene.” 

The segment from Netflix’s Ray is based on the legendary filmmaker-writer’s short story, Barin Bhowmicker Byaram. Setting the adaptation in the world of Urdu poetry and ghazals, Chaubey told the story of kleptomaniac Musafir Ali (Bajpayee), who bumps into Rao’s Aslam Baig on a train journey, only to realise that he had stolen an expensive watch from Baig years ago.

“Manoj and I were not insecure about each other. He is my senior in terms of his body of work. But I am grateful that he was so open and allowed me to flourish. Sometimes, [the director] would call for cut and we would get back to the scene after two hours. It’s possible to maintain that emotion and rhythm only if there is harmony between the two actors. Also, we did a lot of rehearsals,” recounts Rao.

The senior actor has been on a roll post Badhaai Ho (2018), bagging prominent parts. Asked whether he is enjoying the current phase of his career, he says, “After waiting for years, now I have got this opportunity. It has a lot to do with destiny, and I want to make the most of the opportunities coming my way.”

Cast your vote for the Hitlist OTT Awards

Gajraj Rao has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor (Male): Series category for Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa, Ray.

The other nominees are:

- Aftab Shivdasani (Special Ops 1.5)

- Amit Sial (Maharani)

- Dino Morea (The Empire)

- Pavan Malhotra (Grahan)

- Sharib Hashmi (The Family Man S02)

- Sunil Grover (Tandav)

- Vaibhav Raj Gupta (Gullak S02)

Log on to www.radiocity.in/hitlistawards to cast your vote.

You can also vote via SMS. Send HITLIST <space> category name <space> your choice (a/b/c as on the website) to 57575.

Voting lines close on March 18.

Surekha Sikri's manager clears the air after rumours suggest veteran's family needs monetary aid to cover her medical expenses
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; September 10, 2020)

A day after she suffered a brain stroke, veteran actor Surekha Sikri, 75, continues to be closely monitored in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Criticare Hospital in Juhu. Soon after the news of her ill-health spread, it was reported that her family was in need of financial aid following the nurse's allusion that the actor could not be admitted in any other hospital due to the exorbitant fees.

However, talking to mid-day, Sikri's long-time manager Vivek Sidhwani put the rumours to rest. "That was incorrectly put out in the press. Surekha ji has her own finances and the family, including her son, is by her side. There is no need for financial assistance for now," said Sidhwani.

On Tuesday, several industry folk, including Sonu Sood, Badhaai Ho director Amit Ravindernath Sharma and co-actor Gajraj Rao, came forward to lend a helping hand to the actor. "Many of her well-wishers, colleagues and filmmakers were kind enough to offer financial assistance. They have been informed that the family is taking care of everything and giving her the best possible treatment. We would like to acknowledge everyone who reached out to us," added the manager.

Sikri, who became a household name after her Dadisa act in popular television show Balika Vadhu, bagged her third National Award last year for Badhaai Ho (2018). She was last seen in Zoya Akhtar's segment in the Netflix anthology, Ghost Stories.

Nishad Neelambaran (HINDUSTAN TIMES; August 16, 2020)

For many, a movie with a plot that revolves around a bag full of money might sound too cliché. However, what the makers do with the plot and how they tell a story with it is what makes the difference. And one such film is Lootcase. Directed by debutant Rajesh Krishnan, the film stars Kunal Kemmu and Rasika Dugal in lead roles. The film also features Gajraj Rao, Ranvir Shorey and Vijay Raaz in pivotal roles.

Speaking about his debut film, which recently released on an OTT platform, Krishnan says, “Lootcase has a certain simplicity to it. When you do ad films for 20 years, you learn to be simple rather than complex.” He further adds, “The whole attempt was to keep things as simple as we could and get into a kind of humour which is accessible but, at the same time, intelligent. I’ve grown up watching Malayalam films, and they are shining example of how movies have to be made.”

Lootcase was compared to a Nepalese film Jatra, which released in 2016. So, did this make Krishnan nervous about taking up this project? “We had written the story some time in 2014. If you search for ‘films with bag full of money’, you will find about 40 movies. Somebody getting a bag full of money is a very middle-class thought. It is as clichéd as you can get,” he shares, adding, “Fundamentally, we saw a photo of a rickshaw driver in a newspaper, who had returned a bag to his passenger. We saw the driver’s face, and it was almost like he was sorry to return it without checking what was inside the bag. That is when we started to think about it, and when it was pitched to Kapil Sawant (co-writer), he said, ‘Aisa idea maine suna hai’. I said let’s push and see. You will fail at the max; let’s fail for free.”

Krishnan, who is also the director at Soda Films, is very particular about his cast. Even if it is for an ad shoot, he has managed to work with the right people for a project. He admits that he knew who they wanted to cast for this movie. “The casting team has done a fantastic job here. They actually did the difficult task. I practically had worked with 90% of this crew in some commercial or the other. In advertising world, the look is far more important than performance. There is literally no time for an actor to go out there and express, and that is where the casting team came into play. We did extensive casting except for Gajraj. Back in 2014, we knew we wanted the role of MLA Patil to be played by him,” the director reveals.

Ask him if he would continue to make ad films despite his commercial break, and he says, “Advertising is like Ranji Trophy, where you keep honing your skills. An ad film set is not any different from a feature film set. I would never give up ad films.” 

Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 20, 2020)

The Badhaai Ho (2018) actor Gajraj Rao feels fortunate to have “the privilege of choice when it comes to zeroing in on a future project”. “I have reached a certain stage in my career wherein I don’t have to take up a project only for the financial reasons, if I’m not satisfied with it,” he says. Staying at home for the last three months were “a bit tough initially”, but he says these are extraordinary circumstances and we are all in this together.

The actor has been discussing a few projects while waiting for the release of Lootcase, a film co-starring Kunal Kemmu and Rasika Duggal. It is a “special project” for him as it has been directed by his colleague from advertising world, Rajesh Krishnan.

There have been conversations about character actors and second leads not getting enough importance in films or during promotions. Ask Rao, about the same and he says, “In any wedding, the spotlight is always on the bride and groom. It is indeed true that sometimes, some actors do not get their due, but I always try and seek inspiration from these stories and work harder in my performances. If your performance has that spark, people will definitely notice and remember you. It doesn’t matter how long it has taken, what matters is the recognition from the audience for my work and the effort that has gone into it. Even if it took long, I am glad that today people recognize me.”

He continues, “The love and appreciation I got for Badhaai Ho was almost surreal, but if I do not keep improving upon my craft and churn out better performances, I’m bound to be forgotten. I won’t have any reasons to complain either. I have to stay grounded and keep toiling everyday, so that my craft becomes better, and there are no two ways about it. Sincerity will always shine through. Tareefon se ghar nahin chalta, mehnat se chalta hai.”

The actor on his journey from IIT to sketch comedies to riding the digital wave
Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 5, 2020)

When Jitendra Kumar essayed a gay character in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan earlier this year, many found the actor’s choice rather bold. But the 29-year-old, who shot to fame with digital sketch comedies and series such as Pitchers, Bachelors, Kota Factory and Cheesecake, felt the film qualified as “important content”.

“I hope such stories, and the intention with which they were made, reach a larger audience,” says Kumar, who admits that his two lockdown releases, Panchayat and Chaman Bahaar, were both banking on the Ayushmann-starrer to elevate him to a household name despite his big screen debut with Gone Kesh last year. “When you’re starting out, you sometimes can’t refuse work because you have to survive. But I’ve learnt that if you focus, and are patient, you can find recognition and also get the roles that you believe in.” Considering the actor has recently become a digital sensation, keeping at it, perhaps, pays handsomely.

During the Coronavirus lockdown, Kumar, unlike many, hasn’t rekindled his culinary passion, but has been just “cooking for survival”. “I am very lazy, so I knead aata for two or three days at a go, and can make two rotis in one minute,” says the actor, who takes pride in whipping up dal tadka, egg curry, aloo shimla mirch and bhindi. Kumar credits his survival skills to his days in the NCC camps he attended in school, where he also learnt to cook on an open fire pit.

Surprisingly, Kumar’s formative years in Rajasthan’s Khairthal were singularly insular and his access to the world of entertainment was largely restricted to the small screen. “My childhood was all about cricket, cooking and studies. We usually watched Doordarshan, but during summer breaks, we would have a dish installed, and watch whatever played on the cable channels,” he says. “Back then, I never thought that I would ever become an actor or even visit Mumbai.”

A civil engineer from IIT Kharagpur, Kumar shares that he was initially drawn to acting while participating in college plays. “In IIT, we’re told to keep up with extracurriculars, so I took to the stage.” It is here that Kumar also met his college senior Biswapati Sarkar — someone who he would later collaborate with — who went from helming college plays to writing sketches for TVF, a digital content outfit, which began producing content for YouTube in the early days of web streaming in India.

Kumar remembers diving into the digital scene just after college, in 2012, spreading himself thin by straddling acting, numerous production jobs and assisting gigs. “Initially, I was unsure if this was my calling, so I gave it up in three months and took up a job with a construction company in Bangalore.” But nine months on, Kumar knew that he wasn’t cut out for civil engineering either. This is when one of his older sketches Munna Jazbaati dropped online and was received well... just enough to nudge him to face the camera again.

It helped that apart from numerous digital skits, he also bagged the show Change Aayega, Hum Laayenge (Bindaas), which was also sufficient to convince his parents of his career choice. “When they saw me on TV, they were assured of my skills,” he says. “Since my father is also a civil engineer, he understood that if I wasn’t interested in it, I wouldn’t do a good job.”

That Kumar joined the digital wave just before it became a rage also helped him get a firm foothold in the medium. “I literally saw digital content grow. And when Permanent Roommates became a hit, it changed the rules of the game and, in a way, helped establish the burgeoning industry.” The IIT-ian only featured in one episode of the show, but was convinced of its potential and reach by the overwhelming response the show garnered.

Today, Kumar feels blessed for having shared the screen with masters of the craft such as Raghubir Yadav and Gajraj Rao and feels that he’s picked up a lot from closely following their process. “When you see such actors approach a certain character through their iterations with writers and filmmakers, you learn about the different ways of internalising a character,” says the actor, who also credits acting workshops for sharpening his craft. “I am yet to develop the instinct of an actor, but that will come with time too, I hope.”

Riya Sharma and Abhimanyu Mathur (BOMBAY TIMES; February 21, 2020)

One of the most striking features of 2018’s National Award-winning film Badhaai Ho was the chemistry between Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao. As we meet the actors and the two begin the interview with a ‘pehle aap, nahi pehle aap’, that same chemistry is evident in real life, too. They are promoting their second collaboration — Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan — which brings the duo back to the genre of a family entertainer about an unconventional subject, a homosexual son. In a candid chat with us, they talk about being the ‘poster couple’ for unconventional films, their evolving personal equation, and how and why mothers and fathers are different. Excerpts:

In the trailer, Neena’s character says to your character (Gajraj), “ Main maa hoon. Maa ke paas dil hota hai”, in a way suggesting that a mom would obviously react to the news of her son coming out differently than a dad. Do you think there is a difference?
Gajraj: I feel mothers are more accommodating towards their kids’ so-called mistakes or things that are considered to be mistakes by our society. Fathers, on the other hand, are considered as cold-hearted, but that is not always the case. In our society, fathers – or boys in general — are told “don’t be a girl” since their childhood. They say “mard ban!” so he has to play the role of the mard in school, college and office. But his emotions are the same as that of a mother and that is what Shankar Tripathi (his character in the film) is trying to say when he asks, “Tumhare paas dil hai toh main kya battery se chalta hoon?” I don’t think any dialogue writer has ever written a more interesting dialogue than this for a middle-class father in Hindi cinema.
Neena: As a mother, I feel that he is heartless, aur inhe sirf gussa karna aata hai. Maar diya, dant diya aur kaha, ‘Jao, so jao’. I also do that half the time, but I am also soft.

Going by the trailer, your character does not approve of the same-sex relationship of her son, but she accepts it eventually. Does the movie show the typical mindset of parents living in a small city, or does it challenge the mindset that one can’t move away from the stereotypical approach?
Neena: 99.9% moms aisi hi hoti hain and they will react like this if they get to know that their son or daughter is gay. Years of conservative thinking can’t be changed in two minutes. Kids should also understand that they need to give time to their parents. Jaise pataate hain na inter-caste marriage ke liye dheere-dheere waise hi karna chahiye kyunki hum toh waise hi rahenge.

There is no reference point to play a father whose son is gay. Last reference that we have from Hindi cinema was Kirron Kher’s character in Dostana. As you said, fathers think that I am a ‘mard’ so I want my son to also be the same mard. So, do you think there is more shock for a father when his son comes out because our society has this notion that being gay means not being masculine enough?
Gajraj: Absolutely. That is almost not a concept here. They feel, ‘humare yahan gays nahin hote’. For an Indian father, their son cannot be gay. This is not a problem of the Indian or South Asian society; it is actually the problem of patriarchy. It took years to end the inhuman practice of Sati so this will also take time. It’s not like people will watch this movie on Friday and then on Monday, ladke ko ladke wale dekhne aa jayenge. But it will at least start a conversation because I don’t think people are bad. Log ‘log kya kahenge’ ke concept se darte hain.

So, what was your prep for this role? Did you meet people or read stories about people coming out?
Neena: I am a typical mother. So I did not need any preparation because I am playing a typical middle-class mother. It is a typical mother’s reaction and it could also be to things like inter-caste or inter-religion marriage.
Gajraj: I belong to Rajasthan and I have relatives there who strongly believe in traditions. Like the concept of a girl going out of the house and working is alien to many in those places. So I have references of lots of people I’ve have met over the years at family functions. They are not bad people, it’s just that their thinking is different.

The two of you are being cast together again after Badhaai Ho. While the roles in the film may be different, you are once again in a film about an unconventional subject. What do you think makes you the ideal choice for such subjects?
Gajraj: Hum log filmi nahin hain. The USP of Badhaai Ho was that our lines were not the typical dialogues we see in commercial films. We are relatable.
Neena: We are real.
Gajraj: When people meet us, me or Neena ji, they have a smile on their face, not hesitation. I met a senior citizen in the hotel and he promptly said, “Young man, let’s take a picture.” Aise treat kiya jaise apna banda hai. So that way, you can say that Badhaai Ho was a turning point for us, in terms of the roles we are being offered both together and individually, too.
Neena: Aur ek naturalness hai.

How has the personal equation between the two of you evolved?
Neena: We pull each other’s leg, get angry, have tiffs. We have a large gang of friends who go out regularly. We have become like a family.

As he reunites with Neena-Gajraj in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, Ayushmann Khurrana on how duo essays starkly different roles from Badhaai Ho.
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; February 1, 2020)

Besides showing us the beauty of autumn romance, Badhaai Ho (2018) helped Bollywood rediscover the talent of senior actors Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao. As Ayushmann Khurrana reunites with them in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, the actor says he couldn't have wished for better co-stars. "Gajraj sir and Neena ji are the most loved on-screen parents for audiences today. I was thrilled when I got to know that I am collaborating with them again on Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. This time, however, our relationship is a little different," he chuckles.

If they played doting parents to him in the 2018 comedy, Gupta and Rao will be seen as his nemesis in the upcoming same-sex relationship drama. The senior actors, who have slipped into the roles of Jitendra Kumar's parents in the upcoming film, will be seen fiercely opposing the union of their on-screen son with his love interest, essayed by Khurrana.

"Gajraj sir is hilarious as the antagonist in my love life. We both are at loggerheads in the film, making for some of the most memorable scenes," says Khurrana, adding that Gupta's perfect comic timing only adds to the movie's flavour. "They are a riot together on screen."