Irrfan Khan, Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi: Abhishek Chaubey reveals how Ishqiya’s initial cast changed

Abhishek Chaubey’s 2010 directorial debut Ishqiya had quite an interesting cast in Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, and Vidya Balan. However, in an interview with Mashable, Abhishek revealed the initial casting was drastically different.

Why Irrfan, Preity walked out

“Initially, Pankaj (Tripathi) ji was supposed to play Khalujan (the role eventually essayed by Naseeruddin Shah) and Irrfan (Khan) was to play Babban (the role later taken up by Arshad Warsi). At various points, Lara Dutta was approached, but Preity Zinta was finalised. She had read an earlier draft, liked it a lot, and was on board. I then left for New York feeling very happy that the story was solid. And while I was there, I received the news that Preity had left the project,” said Abhishek.

In New York, Abhishek also met Irrfan, who was shooting there. “He felt that the changes to the script weren’t in favour of his character. That’s when I realised he probably wouldn’t do it. While great things happened with the script, terrible things happened behind the scenes,” Abhishek added. After returning to Mumbai, Abhishek cast Vidya in the role of Krishna. Naseeruddin Shah came on board next, given his relationship with Abhishek since the latter served as an Assistant Director on Vishal Bhardwaj’s 2003 cult gangster film Maqbool, which starred the actor in a supporting role.

Naseeruddin Shah’s hesitation

Naseeruddin Shah, however, was initially hesitant to play the part. He even asked Abhishek if he was sure since the actor confessed he’d never romanced on screen. He went on to romance Vidya not only in Ishqiya, but also in Milan Luthria’s 2011 blockbuster period drama The Dirty Picture.

Ishqiya also went on to become a franchise. Abhishek also helmed Dedh Ishqiya (2014), in which Naseeruddin and Arshad reprised their roles. Madhuri Dixit and Huma Qureshi joined the cast.

Meanwhile, Abhishek’s last directorial was the Netflix India black comedy show Killer Soup, starring Manoj Bajpayee, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kani Kusruti, and Nasser among others.