As part of Amazon Prime Video’s The Great Indian Festival, Chhalaang will be releasing for this Diwali on November 13.
Directed by Hansal Mehta, the film features Rajkummar Rao and Nushrat Bharucha in lead roles, along with Zeeshan Ayyub, Satish Kaushik, Saurabh Shukla, Ila Arun, and Jatin Sarna. It is produced by Ajay Devgn, Luv Ranjan, and Ankur Garg. Releasing on the eve of Children’s Day, the film features child artistes who will be an integral part of the plot.
Chhalaang narrates the story of PT Master Montu played by Rajkummar Rao and humorously addresses the importance of sports education in school curriculum. Talking about how director Mehta spent his time researching for the film and his experience working with children, he said, “The children in Chhalaang were cast locally from different places like Hisar, Karnal and Gurgaon. They are very natural with immense potential. Before shooting for Chhalaang, I had seen an interview of Shekhar Kapur, where he spoke about handling kids during Mr India and Masoom, and how he got those amazing performances done from them. He said, “Set them free”, and that was something that stuck with me. I set them free, they were great fun and that is visible on screen. The relationship that they had developed with Raj, Nushrratt & Zeeshan makes the film come alive.”
Speaking about his experience of working for the first time with children, Rao said, “I had a great time with the children on the sets of Chhalaang, both on camera and off camera. They are the real stars. They were natural, phenomenally talented and have added so much value. Their enthusiasm levels are absolutely commendable, even when the temperature went from extreme heat to winters, all these children had the same vigour while shooting and they really inspired all of us.”
Recommended
Bharucha plays the role of a computer teacher and Rao’s love interest. Sharing her thoughts about working with the children, she revealed, “Being around children always brings in a sense of nostalgia and Chhalaang took me back to my school days. The children we were shooting with were way smarter and naughtier than most of us were at that age and this actually kept us on our toes the whole time. Seeing their bright happy faces every morning was just so adorable!! I’m happy all kids will be able to enjoy Chhalaang during Diwali and Children’s Day with their families.”
Rao was last seen in Shimla Mirchi (2020) co-starring Rakul Preet Singh and Hema Malini. He is currently working on Netflix release The White Tiger opposite Priyanka Chopra.
Bharucha’s last film was Dream Girl (2019) along with Ayushmann Khurrana and is currently working on Hurdang directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhatt.