R.Balki opens up on casting Dulquer Salmaan for Chup

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Filmmaker R. Balki had unveiled the Chup: Revenge of The Artist teaser on the legendary Guru Dutt’s birthday. Paying an ode to him, the teaser directly points to the criticism that the legendary director received for his masterpiece, Kaagaz Ke Phool. The recently-released trailer has gained appreciation from fans and generated anticipation for the psychological thriller.

The film stars the talented Dulquer Salmaan, and the unconventional director recently opened up on casting the star and the reason comes as a surprise. “For Chup, I was lucky to have someone super-talented, a superstar in one half of the country, who speaks Hindi as if it’s his mother-tongue and who can be a terrific discovery for the other half of the country. I wanted a relatively fresh face for Hindi cinema with the acting muscle of a veteran and then I found Dulquer. I narrated the film to him on Zoom during the lockdown, and that was it. We met for 30 minutes or so in Kochi and then directly on the set. I never even had to do a reading or a workshop with him,” says R. Balki on casting the actor.

Dulquer Salmaan has been recently carrying versatile roles like Kurup (2021) in Malayalam, Hey Sinamika (2022) in Tamil, Salute (2022) in Malayalam and Sita Ramam (2022) in Telugu. With Chup, the actor adds another language film to his list.

Chup is R. Balki’s debut in the genre of blood and kills. Touted as a thriller of global significance, the movie is being conceptually termed as the first-of-its-kind in the world. Balki’s films have always piqued the interest of fans, critics and peers alike with his subjects often making headlines. Breaking through the clutter, the disruptive filmmaker has made a lasting impact with his groundbreaking ideas and original school of thought.

Others headlining the cast are Sunny Deol, Shreya Dhanwanthary and Pooja Bhatt. The movie is produced by Gauri Shinde, Hope Productions and Pen Studios. The original story is by R. Balki, while the screenplay and dialogues have been co-written by Balki, Raja Sen and Rishi Virmani.

Dr Jayantilal Gada (Pen Studios) presents the film and the all-India distribution is by Pen Marudhar. The director of photography is Vishal Sinha and the music is by S.D. Burman, Amit Trivedi, Sneha Khanwalkar and Aman Pant.

The film is set to release September 23.