R Balki on casting Dulquer Salmaan for psychological thriller ‘Chup’: ‘I wanted Fresh face with…’

Filmmaker R Balki had unveiled the trailer of the psychological thriller ‘Chup: Revenge of the Artist’ on Bollywood legend Guru Dutt’s birth anniversary. Paying an ode to him, the video pointed to the criticism that the director received for his masterpiece ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’. Starring Dulqer Salmaan, the teaser garnered a lot of appreciation from the fans and audience. Following this, the director recently opened up on casting Dulquer as the lead for the film. 

R Balki, who is known for his spectacular films like ‘Paa’, ‘Ki and Ka’, ‘Padman’, and ‘Shamitabh’, said, “For ‘Chup’, I was lucky to have someone super talented, a superstar in one half of the country, who speaks Hindi as if it’s his mother tongue, and who can be a terrific discovery for the other half of the country. I wanted a relatively fresh face for Hindi Cinema with the acting muscle of a veteran; and then I found Dulquer.”

Dulquer is known for his roles in ‘Kurup’, ‘Hey Sinamika’, ‘Salute’, ‘Sita Ramam’ and others. Balki explained the movie to him over Zoom during the lockdown and he said beyond that, he never had to elaborate about the film to Dulquer. “I narrated the film to him on Zoom during the lockdown, and that was it. We met for thirty minutes or so in Cochin and then directly on the set. I never even had to do a reading or a workshop with him,” the ‘Cheeni Kum’ director said.

‘Chup’ is all about the wrong criticism that an artist has to face for his creation and it is an homage by the director to Dutt’s 1959 classic ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’. ALSO READ: Shah Rukh Khan teases son Aryan with THIS throwback photo from Main Hoon Na after Gauri Khan’s tweet

Apart from Dulquer, the film also stars Sunny Deol, Shreya Dhanwanthary, and Pooja Bhatt. The movie is directed by R. Balki and Produced by Gauri Shinde, Hope Filmmakers and Pen Studios. The screenplay and dialogues of ‘Chup: Revenge of Artist’ have been co-written by Balki and critic-turned-writer Raja Sen and Rishi Virmani. With music by composer Amit Trivedi and Vishal Sinha credited as the film’s director of photography (DOP). ‘Chup: Revenge Of The Artist’ is set to release on September 23.

Meanwhile, Dulquer is currently getting a lot of praise for his recently released film ‘Sita Ramam’ which also starred Rashmika Mandanna and Mrunal Thakur in the lead roles. ALSO READ: Ranbir Kapoor winks as Ananya Panday calls him ‘new best friend’; what are these Bollywood celebs up to?

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