Dhanush, a force to reckon with in the Tamil film industry, made a memorable Bollywood debut with Aanand L Rai’s 2013 romantic drama Raanjhanaa. He played Kundan, a Varanasi boy who goes from being an unrequited lover to a key political voice in New Delhi. The actor revealed last month on the film’s 12th anniversary that he almost didn’t do the film because of budgetary constraints.
“At that time, they didn’t have the right kind of budget for hiring me as the lead actor. But this man’s (Aanand L Rai) passion was so strong that he just wanted me to play Kundan. He could have offered any actor this part and they would have happily come on board. After all, it’s such a great part,” said Dhanush at a special fan screening of Raanjhanaa.
“But he went against all odds. I don’t know I am supposed to say this and I don’t care! He invested his own money as well. He went all out (to cast me). He saw Kundan in me and he stayed true to his vision,” added Dhanush. The actor confessed that he didn’t feel as nervous on his debut Tamil film as he did on his first Hindi film, for the same reason.
Sonam Kapoor and Dhanush in Raanjhanaa.
“I was not scared during my first film. When I was written off, I was not scared. That’s how I am. But for the first time, I was scared. I felt responsible. So, I was praying so hard to God that ‘Somehow save this man,’” said Dhanush, adding, “They made a cult classic. It is not the story of Kundan and Zoya. It is the story of two mad men who believed in this.”
Raanjhanaa also stars Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Swara Bhaskar, and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. Last year, in an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Aanand L Rai also revealed he initially planned to cast Ranbir Kapoor for Kundan’s role. “An actor who keeps himself simple and lets himself blend into the crowd, which is a difficult thing, I believe Ranbir Kapoor is like this, but he was not available at that time and as we were searching for such an actor, we found Dhanush,” said Rai, who went on to collaborate with Dhanush in the 2021 film Atrangi Re and the upcoming movie Tere Ishq Mein, which is from “the same world as Raanjhanaa.”
