DYK Aditi Rao Hydari was originally cast opposite Irrfan Khan in 2018's 'Blackmail'?

Aditi Rao Hydari is among the well-known names in the Indian entertainment industry. The year 2018 was quite busy for her as she appeared in five movies, including two Hindi and Telugu language projects and one Tamil film. The actor could have added one more Hindi movie, Blackmail, to her list but planning to cast her did not work out.

Aditi Rao Hydari was the initial choice opposite Irrfan Khan in 'Blackmail'

The development of Blackmail began back in the year 2014 when Abhinay Deo had announced his next movie would be a dark comedy set in Mumbai. A year later, Rakesh Roshan came onboard to produce the project. According to IMDb, the cast had Irrfan Khan and Aditi Rao Hydari as the lead actors playing husband and wife. Kunal Kapoor, Kunaal Roy Kapur, and Vijay Raaz were also tapped to appear in the film which was scheduled to commence shooting at the end of February.

However, Rakes Rakesh dropped the project reportedly due to creative differences with director Abinay Deo. The movie was on hold for quite a long time as the filmmaker went on to complete Force 2 starring John Abraham and Sonakshi Sinha. In 2017, T-Series decided to finance the project along with co-producer Rohit KaduDeshmukh. As the halt was long, several actors departed the movie when it resumed development, including Aditi Rao Hydari, who was the first choice of the director.

With only Irrfan Khan attached to Blackmail, the makers roped in Kirti Kulhari to play his wife. The shooting began in April 2017 with the entire process taking place in Mumbai itself. After all the delays, it was released in theatres on March 30, 2018, and earned praises from the audiences.

More Blackmail trivia

According to IMDB, the film has Pradhuman Singh Mall as Anand Tripathi, a friend, and college of Irrfan Khan’s Dev Kaushal. Anand is aware of everything that is going on in Dev’s life. The first choice to portray the character was Deepak Dobriyal. Veteran actor Urmila Matondkar along with Omi Vaidya made their comeback in the movie. Urmila had a special appearance in the song Bewaafa Beauty, after being away from the industry for 10 years. Omi was seen after six years in a Hindi project.

Promo Image Source: aditiraohydari Instagram And T-Series YouTube