Vivek Agnihotri reveals HILARIOUS story on how Emraan Hashmi bagged Chocolate: “Anil Kapoor told me, ‘Ek ladka hai. Woh kisi bhi ladki ko pakad ke kiss kar leta hai’!”

Vivek Agnihotri had a long conversation with Komal Nahta about his working style, beginnings in the industry and a lot more. His debut directorial was the multi-starrer Chocolate (2005) and he explained how he managed to cast the actors.

Vivek Agnihotri began by saying, “I came from the advertising industry. It was not my dream to be a filmmaker. Woh ho gaya bas. The first producer I met was from London. She saw my telefilm that I made for Zee TV named ‘Chocolate’. She insisted that she wanted me to make a film on the same topic. She also had a condition – she wanted Suniel Shetty and Arshad Warsi!”

Vivek said, “Sometimes, things happen magically. I left her office in Aram Nagar and I bumped into George, who later worked with Rohit Shetty. At that time, he used to manage Suniel Shetty. He was a production assistant for Anupam Kher and I had done some work for the latter. So, he recognized me. I asked him, ‘Tum aaj kal kya kar rahe ho?’. He told me, ‘Main Anna ka kaam dekhta hoon’. I asked him who Anna was. He said, ‘Suniel Shetty’. I had no idea that Suniel Shetty was addressed as Anna!”

Vivek Agnihotri continued, “Nevertheless, I got excited and told him how a producer wants me to cast Suniel Shetty and Arshad Warsi. He told me, ‘I don’t know Arshad, but if you want, I can talk to Anna right now’. I told him to go ahead. Anna called us the next day. He heard the concept and agreed to work on the film. I told myself, ‘50% battle has been won’!”

He then stated, “2-3 days later, I was returning home, in Amarnath Tower, when I saw Arshad Warsi, who, incidentally, used to stay behind my house. He saw me and stopped. I asked him ‘Are you free for 15 minutes?’. When he said ‘yes’, I took him home. I opened my laptop and showed him the concept. In those days, no one used to pitch a film on their laptop. He was like ‘Wow’! This was a time when he didn’t have much work, though he had delivered Munna Bhai MBBS (2003). So, he also wanted to do something nice. He told me, ‘Chalo, karte hai’.”

Vivek added, “I met Irrfan Khan in Barista in Lokhandwala and he came on board. I was told to cast Boman Irani for a role. But I feared that the combo of Boman and Arshad might make people believe that Chocolate was a comedy, not a suspense thriller. So, I decided to approach Anil Kapoor. But we were unable to meet him for two months. One day, he finally called us to his office.”

He revealed, “He heard me for 10-15 minutes. We met again at night and he agreed to sign the film. I told him that he would have to go for a crew cut, which he had never done before. He thought for a while but then said ‘Okay’.”

Finally, Vivek Agnihotri raised laughs as he confessed, “The casting of one character remained. This character was flamboyant and Casanova-like. Anil Kapoor suggested, ‘Yaar, ek ladka hai. Mereko bada accha lagta hai. Woh kisi bhi ladki ko pakad ke kiss kar leta hai’. I asked him who that actor was. He replied, ‘Emraan Hashmi’ (laughs). That’s how Emraan Hashmi came into the film.”

Also Read: The Bengal Files sparks political firestorm: Vivek Agnihotri’s film released nationwide but blocked in West Bengal

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