Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs Of Wasseypur forever changed the landscape of Indian cinema when it was first released in 2012. Centered on the coal mafia (Mafia Raj) of Dhanbad, and the underlying power struggles, politics and vengeance among three crime families, the film had an ensemble cast, with Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Richa Chadda, Huma Qureshi and Tigmanshu Dhulia in the major roles. Its story spanned 68 years from 1941 to 2009. Although Nawazuddin Siddiqui played the main lead, Rajkummar Rao, who essayed Shamshad Alam in the film, has now shared that he was initially approached to headline the film.
During a conversation with Zakir Khan for Netflix India, Rajkummar Rao disclosed, “After watching LSD (Love Se Aur Dhokha), Anurag sir called me and said I am making a film, come and meet me. So when I met him, there was just a story, rather a structure of a story. And at that time, the film he narrated was Faisal Khan (Nawazuddin) vs Shamshad Alam (Rajkummar). Nawaz and I went to Wasseypur and I had a small tape recorder, which I used to record people there.”
However, once the final script began to take shape, Rajkummar’s role got reduced significantly. Despite that, the Kai Po Che actor was eager to do the film. He revealed, “After writing finished 3-4 months later, Anurag sir met me again and told me that my role had become much shorter. But I said no worries sir. He asked me, ‘Would you still do it’ and I said ‘Of course. I am getting a chance to work with you.’ And I am glad I did actually.”
Rajkummar went on to play essential roles in films like Citylights, Aligarh, Trapped, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Newton, Stree, Ludo, The White Tiger and the most recent, Vasan Bala’s OTT directorial Monica, O My Darling.
