R Balki reveals why he cast Dulquer Salmaan for Chup

R Balki’s upcoming psychological thriller Chup (2022) features Dulquer Salmaan in an intriguing role. The actor has easily been able to slip into roles in the Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu industries.

Dulquer made his Hindi debut with Karwaan (2018), co-starring the late Irrfan Khan and Mithila Palkar. His last Hindi film was the rom-com The Zoya Factor (2019) opposite Sonam Kapoor.

The actor was last seen in the Telugu period romance Sita Ramam (2022) opposite Mrunal Thakur.

The filmmaker opened up on why he cast the south star in the role and how it was an easy choice for him.

“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,” Balki said. “I wanted a relatively fresh face for Hindi cinema with the acting muscle of a veteran and then I found Dulquer.”

“I narrated the film to him on Zoom during the lockdown, and that was it,” he added. “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.”

Chup features Sunny Deol as a police officer handling a case of serial killer who targets film critics. While Dulquer’s role is yet unknown, he seems to be a Guru Dutt fan who embarks on a romance with a character played by Shreya Dhanwanthary. Pooja Bhatt is also part of the cast.

Produced by Gauri Shinde, Hope Filmmakers and Pen Studios, R Balki has written the story while the screenplay and dialogues have been co-written by Balki, critic-turned-writer Raja Sen and Rishi Virmani.
 
The film is due to be released on 23 September.