Did you know why Saswata Chatterjee said NO to ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’?

Karan Johar’s much-anticipated ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ is surely the next big Bollywood film gearing up for its release. The family entertainer, with an ensemble cast of Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra, and Shabana Azmi also has quite a few song and dance sequences in typical Bollywood style. The first song from the film ‘Tum Kya Mile’ is already out and it’s an instant hit.
‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ also has two acclaimed Bengali actors in important roles – Tota Roy Choudhury and Churni Ganguly.While Tota will be seen as Alia Bhatt’s father, Churni plays her mother in the film. Interestingly, Tota takes on the role of a professional Kathak dancer. However, Tota’s role was initially offered to another acclaimed Bengali actor Saswata Chatterjee, but he couldn’t say ‘yes’ because he had to perform classical dance onscreen. Saswata wasn’t comfortable with it, so he politely said ‘no’ to Karan Johar.

Since Alia plays a Bengali character Rani Chatterjee Karan was keen to cast someone as her father in an authentic way. So, the role finally came to Tota and he learned Kathak for almost a year. Interestingly, Alia also had to learn the Bengali language and in the film, she will be seen speaking in Bengali while chatting with her dad who’s an accomplished Indian classical dancer.
Earlier, while speaking about his experience of working in ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ Tota Roy Choudhury had said that working with Karan Johar was always on his bucket list.
Meanwhile, after Zoya Akhtar's ‘Gully Boy’, this movie is the second collaboration between Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt and it also marks Karan Johar’s directorial return after ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ (2016).
‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ is set to release in theatres on July 28.