Wayback Wednesday: When Hansal Mehta refused to audition Rajkummar Rao for Shahid, wanted to send him back home

The movie is Shahid is remembered for two things in today’s times. One is Rajkummar Rao’s acting and the other is Hansal Mehta’s bold choice. However, this bond was unlikely to happen, given that Hansal refused to audition Rajkummar for the role and wanted to rather send him back home.

While talking to Mashable India, Hansal revealed that he didn’t even want to meet Rajkummar but Mukesh Chhabra and Anurag Kashyap asked him to at least offer the actor tea. Still hesitant since the project was not well-funded, Hansal met Rajkummar over a cup of tea. However, as they spoke, the filmmaker realized that he found the actor who could play the lawyer, Shahid.

“I look for a vibe when I cast a person. I cast him because I liked him. There was something very beautiful about him,” Hansal recalled about meeting Rajkummar for the first time.

The rest is of course history, for Rajkummar Rao brought alive the character of lawyer Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in Mumbai in 2010. The film was so well recognized that Rajkummar won a National Award for Best Actor in the year while Hansal took back Best Director award. The award also happened to be Hansal’s first ever award.

Shahid was the starting point for Hansal Mehta and Rajkummar Rao’s collaboration in movies. They worked in some well-acclaimed films ever since.

After Shahid (2013), they worked together almost every year. The two did Citylights in 2014, Aligarh in 2015, Omerta in 2017 and more recently, they worked in Chhalaang (2020). In fact, Hansal even produced Rajkummar’s web series, Bose: Dead/Alive in 2017.

One thing is for sure. From almost being rejected to creating history, Rajkummar’s collaboration with Hansal has been a ride in itself and quite fruitful for both of them, given how each project they collaborated on has been well-received.