Hansal Mehta reveals he didn't want to audition Rajkummar Rao for 'Shahid': 'Mukesh Chhabra said chai pila kar bhej dena'

Bollywood filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who has collaborated with actor Rajkummar Rao for films like 'Citylights', 'Omerta' and others, recently revealed that he did not want to audition the star for his film 'Shahid'.

During an interaction with Mashable, Mehta shared that he was not ready to meet Rajkummar for 'Shahid', but Mukesh Chhabra and Anurag Kashyap convinced him to do it. "I said, ‘Mil kar kya karu, paise vaise bhi nahi mil rahe picture banane ke’. How will I be able to make the movie with Rajkummar Yadav, he was then named that," he said.

However, Chhabra did not give up, and one day, he called Mehta and informed that Rajkummar was standing outside his office. "Mukesh said 'Achha ladka hai, chai pila kar bhej dena bas'," the director mentioned.

However, as soon as he met the actor, their conversation took off and they went on to talk for over an hour. And after their chat, Mehta was convinced that he wanted to cast Rajkummar in '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," he said.

'Shahid' is based on the life of a lawyer named Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in 2010. The film got Mehta a National Award for Best Director and Rajkummar bagged the National Award for Best Actor.