Raj & DK, in a recent interview, shared that they were keen to cast Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan in their Hindi debut film 99.
Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, popularly known as Raj & DK, have delivered hit OTT outings like The Family Man and Farzi. Known for successfully blending humour with different genres, the writer-director duo have established themselves as a credible name in the industry.
While they may be working with stars like Varun Dhawan and Shahid Kapoor now, Raj & DK too, have had their share of casting struggle when they were new in showbiz. Recently, in an interview with Sucharita Tyagi, the director-duo shared that they initially wanted to approach Aamir Khan for their Bollywood debut 99, but couldn’t get an access to him.
Raj revealed, “We wrote 99 and went to Aamir Khan first. When you write something, and think of an ideal scenario, then people are like, ‘Who are you? Where are you from?’ I’m just saying. I don’t think we went to him. We couldn’t even get to him. We didn’t have access.” Eventually, 99 was made with Kunal Kemmu, Boman Irani, Soha Ali Khan and Cyrus Broacha as the star cast.
Raj & DK further said in their interview that they always wanted to cast mainstream stars in order to reach larger section of mainstream audience. They added that they got their breakthrough when Saif Ali Khan agreed to star and produce their zombie comedy Go Goa Gone which released in 2013.
Raj shared, “Saif was, at that time, a hero of the whole rom-com (genre), right. Him saying yes to Boris, to go ahead with that strange hair, he just bought into that. He thought it was silliness, but a thoughtful kind of silliness. So he just said, ‘Let’s do it.”
Speaking about the world of OTT, Raj said that while streaming is an actor’s medium, he also believes that only an actor can do a series, not a star who’s not an actor.
“What we want to do as filmmakers is to give you so many people to fall in love with in that show that you don’t know the names of. You’re drawn in for something, but these actors are your takeaway. For example, in The Family Man, in both the seasons, there have been so many actors who are doing a lot of work now,” he told Sucharita.
On the work front, Raj & DK recently helmed the Netflix series Guns & Gulaabs starring Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan, Gulshan Devaiah and Adarsh Gourav. Their next project is the Indian instalment of Prime Video’s spy thriller franchise Citadel with Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu.
