Vaani Kapoor-Ayushmann Khurrana starrer ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’ is currently in theatres, winning hearts.
This trans love story has been directed by Abhishek Kapoor. Though Ayushmann nailed his part, Abhishek initially had a different actor in mind for his role.
If this TOI report is to be believed, then Sushant Singh Rajput was the 1st choice for ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’.
But owing to his sudden and tragic demise on 14 June 2020, Sushant got replaced by Ayushmann in the project. Abhishek Kapoor had always shared a special bond with SSR, having directed his debut film Kai Po Che. He had then gone on to work with him again in Kedarnath.
Talking about casting Vaani Kapoor as a trans woman in the movie, Abhishek had shared with DNA –
“I was contemplating whether we should go with a trans person or not. And if we had to go with a leading lady from the industry, I just thought that nobody would have agreed to it. I was contemplating various names but Ayushman suggested Vaani but I was not very sure.
However, when I sent the script to her what was really commendable is she read it and she loved it. I found it really amazing because normally no leading lady would play this part because of what their brands will think about them, what their audience will think, there were so many other ways to position themselves in the commercial world that they wouldn’t want to go down this road, but she picked it up and she sunk her teeth into it and I really appreciated the trust which she had in me.”