Seven years later, Prithviraj Sukumaran is returning to Bollywood with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan co-starring Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff. However, roping in the Malayalam superstar for the film wasn’t really a cakewalk due to his chock-o-block schedule. And it was his Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire director Prashanth Neel who convinced him to clear his dates and sign the action entertainer.
And now, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, director Ali Abbas Zafar reveals that he wouldn’t have been able to make the film without Prithviraj as the story of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan revolves around his character. “There’s a reason why Prithvi is in the film. His character is so important in it. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan is a three-hero film and not a two-hero film. He’s an anti-hero but the way he’s mounted in the film and his character graph is, it’s clear that the film is his story rather than Bade Miyan and Chote Miyan’s,” he fills us in.
Recalling the narration session with Prithviraj, Ali says, “I’ve never been so jittery during a narration because I really wanted him to do the film. I knew that if he says a no, I wouldn’t have anyone else to fall back on. But Prithvi gave me a carrot and took it away as he said that he loves the script but won’t be able to do it because he didn’t have the dates.”
So what followed was days of continuous calls and texts until the Kuruthi actor finally agreed to come aboard the film. “I kept calling and messaging him in the middle of the night and in early mornings saying, ‘Prithvi, I really want you to do it.’ I told him that I would change Akshay and Tiger’s dates to accommodate his schedule,” Ali states.
The filmmaker further shares that on days when Prithviraj would come to the shoot, Akshay and Tiger held a major grudge. Spilling the beans on the same, he quips, “Prithvi would only come on the set only for four hours since he was shooting for two other really big films. And when he would be there, Akshay sir and Tiger used to tell me that they felt like junior artists because all the attention would be on him (laughs).”
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan marks Prithviraj’s third collaboration with Akshay after Naam Shabana and Selfiee, where the former took on the role of a producer. Needless to say, Akshay was elated when he came to know that he would get to share screen space and engage in some high-octane action sequences with him.
Talking about his reaction, the Bharat and Tiger Zinda Hai maker remarks, “When I wrote this character, I was very sure that I only wanted a superstar to play it. For the longest time, Akshay sir kept asking me who’ll play the villain and I kept telling him that I’ve someone in my mind and I’m just waiting to finish the dialogue draft before approaching him. Akshay sir and Prithvi know each other and when I told him that I want him to play the villain, his instinctive reaction was, ‘Perfect! Just go to him.’”
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