Mumbai (Maharashtra): Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar's latest film Sardar Udham stars Vicky Kaushal in the titular role of the freedom fighter, who assassinated Michael O'Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in British India in 1940, to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Sicar, who is currently basking in the glorious reviews of the film which released on Amazon Prime Video recently, said the toughest part of the project was getting the cast right.
The makers had first cast Irrfan Khan for the biopic, but after the actor exited the project owing to his ill health, Kaushal was brought in. Khan passed away last year in April after a two-year-long battle with a rare form of cancer.
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"If you ask me what gave me sleepless nights... It was when what happened to Irrfan and I had to move on from the project to Vicky. That was a huge conflict, a challenge. Yes, Vicky and I had met, discussed it with him, we both had committed (to the project)...So we took it step-by-step. He tried the costumes and I felt slightly assured. Then we called for prosthetics to see if he looked the part, and did some photoshoots... I could see that innocence, enthusiasm in him," the filmmaker said.
Kaushal said he was "realistic" about the opportunity and didn't look at it as him replacing Khan.
"Those shoes you cannot step into, not me, not any other actor in the world. Those are special shoes of its own league. Insecurities come when you are attempting to do that. But there was never an attempt. I had to just give my best with complete honesty," he added.
(With inputs from agency)
