Raj & DK wanted to cast Aamir Khan for their first Hindi film 99: ‘We didn’t have the access then'

Raj & DK may be working with stars like Shahid Kapoor and Varun Dhawan today, but they struggled with casting A-list stars in the early days. In an interview with YouTuber Sucharita Tyagi, the director duo revealed they initially wanted to approach Aamir Khan for their debut Bollywood film 99, but couldn't even get to him. (Also Read: Guns & Gulaabs review: This explosive cast of Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan deserved a better Raj & DK series)

Wanted Aamir for 99

“We wrote 99 and went to Aamir Khan first. When you write something, and think of an ideal scenario, then people are like, ‘Who are you? Where are you from?’ I'm just saying. I don't think we went to him. We couldn't even get to him. We didn't have access,” said Raj Nidimoru in the interview.

When Saif said yes

Raj & DK said they always wanted to cast mainstream stars in order to reach larger mainstream audiences. They got a breakthrough when Saif Ali Khan decided to star in and produce their 2013 zombie comedy Go Goa Gone. “Saif was, at that time, a hero of the whole rom-com (genre), right. Him saying yes to Boris, to go ahead with that strange hair, he just bought into that. He thought it was silliness, but a thoughtful kind of silliness. So he just said, ‘Let’s do it,'” Raj said in the same interview.

Raj & DK recently worked with Shahid Kapoor in his web series debut Farzi on Prime Video India. And they have wrapped up the shoot of the Indian instalment of Prime Video's spy thriller franchise Citadel with Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

However, Raj & DK insisted in a new interview with Film Companion that they want to ‘mix it up.’ “I do agree that streaming is an actor's medium. But I'd also say that only an actor can do a series, not a star who's not an actor. What we want to do as filmmakers is to give you so many people to fall in love with in that show that you don't know the names of. You're drawn in for something, but these actors are your takeaway. For example, in The Family Man, in both the seasons, there have been so many actors who are doing a lot of work now.”

Raj & DK's latest series Guns & Gulaabs premiered on Netflix India last Friday.