Not Varun Dhawan, Irrfan Khan was Sriram Raghavan's first choice for Badlapur; this man convinced director for young actor

Headlined by Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the 2015 neo-noir thriller film Badlapur is considered among the finest films of the last decade. Sriram Raghavan, who is known for making pulpy thrillers such as Andhadhun, Johnny Gaddaar, and Ek Hasina Thi, is the brains behind Badlapur. The film, which received rave reviews from the audiences and critics, also starred Huma Qureshi, Yami Gautam, Divya Dutta, Radhika Apte, Vinay Pathak, Ashwini Kalsekar, and Kumud Mishra among others.

Badlapur is arguably considered the best performance of Varun Dhawan. Interestingly, he wasn't the first choice for the film as Sriram Raghavan had wanted Irrfan Khan to play the lead role with Nawazuddin Siddiqui. In a recent interview, the filmmaker shared how the film's producer Dinesh Vijan of Maddock Films suggested him to take Varun in the film.

Talking to Pinkvilla, Sriram stated that he had narraated the basic idea of Badlapur to his screenwriter-brother Shridhar Raghavan, who warned him against making the film saying that it's too dark. The director said, "I was thinking of serious actors like Irrfan (Khan). He said, 'Don't do it'." He added that he shared the stoy with Dinesh a week later, who said that he would back Badlapur only if Sriram would not dilute it. Dinesh then asked him which actor he had considered, Raghavan said that he would have pitched it to Saif Ali Khan but he won't work with him as their last film Agent Vinod flopped.

Then, Dinesh Vijan suggested Varun Dhawan's name to Sriram Raghavan, who thought that casting him won't be a bad idea. In a strange coincidence, the Baby John actor called the producer on the same day, and the three of them had a meeting. Sriram narrated the story to Varun, who liked it. "Varun also vibed with that story, then he asked me, 'Do you think I can do it?' I told him, 'If you like it, you can do it.' So, that’s how it happened immediately. Then Nawaz was already in my mind, even while writing", the filmmaker concluded.

Sriram Raghavan is now working on his next film Ikkis, the biopic of the late Param Vir Chakra awardee Arun Khetarpal. Agastya Nanda portrays the war hero while Dharmendra and Jaideep Ahlawat will also be seen in the leading roles. Ikkis was slated to release on January 10 this year, but has been postponed. The new release date hasn't been announced yet.

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