Lara Dutta says she hesitated to call Naseeruddin Shah ‘buddha, pagal’ in Kaun Banegi Shikharwati, reveals his reaction

Actor Lara Dutta has recalled an incident concerning Naseeruddin Shah and Raghubir Yadav from the sets of her upcoming series Kaun Banegi Shikharwati. In an interview with news agency PTI, Lara said that one of her lines required her to address the veteran actors as ‘mad’ and ‘old men’.

Lara Dutta said, “I have a line on the show, where I look at Raghubir ji (Raghubir Yadav) and Naseer saab (Naseeruddin Shah) and say, ‘Kya tum dono buddhe paagal ho gaye ho? (Have both you old men lost your mind?)’. I was like, I just can’t say this to them. I said, ‘Can we please rewrite it?’ But both of them were like, ‘Just have fun with it’. There is a tremendous amount of nervousness and anxiety when you are facing an actor like that. Naseer saab is light-years ahead of us in terms of his craft. But what an incredible opportunity to watch, learn, observe and imbibe. One of the biggest reasons for me to do the show was that he was in it.”

Talking about the show, she said, “So their coming together to play these games with each other, leads to a lot of comedy, fun and quirkiness. I loved the opportunity to step into a world like that. Have this crazy family led by an eccentric king. They live in fancy areas of Mumbai and Delhi, lead a cosmopolitan life but the moment they go back to their kingdom and principalities, they have to wear these saris with ghunghats (veils). They live in a different world for that amount of time that they spend there.”

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Directed by Gauravv Chawla and Ananya Banerjee, Kaun Banegi Shikharwati will premiere on January 7 on ZEE5. Apart from Lara, the show also stars Soha Ali Khan, Kritika Kamra and Anya Singh as Naseeruddin’s daughters. The show follows the story of the daughters, as they compete in a series of royal games, the winner of which will be chosen as heir of Naseeruddin’s kingdom.

Kaun Banegi Shikharwati will be Lara’s third web series. Previously she has starred in the Disney+ Hotstar’s Hundred and Lionsgate Play’s Hiccups and Hookups. She was last seen on the big screen in Bell Bottom, in which she played former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The film featured actor Akshay Kumar in the lead role.