Irrfan-Rahul swap roles

The actors exchanged roles that were originally meant for each other in the film Bubblegum

It’s a never before seen pair on the silver screen, but given their acting talent, its sure that Irrfan Khan and Soha Ali Khan will light up the screen with fireworks. The duo is set to act in Indian Film’s new venture titled Bubblegum, which just went on the floors.

However, the reasons for the two coming together as a screen couple are quite interesting. To be directed by debutant director Anil Sharma, the film also stars Rahul Bose, Rahul Khanna, and Konkona Sen Sharma, and is a story about two urban couples.

“In fact, Rahul wanted to play Irrfan’s character and Irrfan was fascinated by Rahul’s. Since both of them loved each other’s roles, all we had to do was swap the characters,” says Anil.

He adds, “While narrating the script Rahul kept asking me about the other character, Rishi, who is a lecturer in a media school (which was to be played by Irrfan). After the narration, Rahul said that he would like to play Rishi as it was more dramatic and he has not done something like this before.”

The director continues, “I was very skeptical when I went back to Irrfan who was to play Rishi. I told him about Rahul’s request, and he burst out laughing, saying that he wanted to play the character of Samit, an investor banker, a character that was to be originally played by Rahul. Irrfan felt that he had never done an understated role before.”

Anil shares, “Now, one week into shooting and I am wondering how I could have seen them otherwise. They are brilliant in their respective characters. Because of this change it has resulted in Soha and Irrfan coming together for the first time. She plays Samit’s wife working in a high-profile beauty clinic. They really look nice together.”