Mikhil Musale on casting Rajkummar Rao in Made In China: I can’t imagine anyone else playing this character

Mikhil Musale had directed the 2016 release Gujarati film Wrong Side Raju. The movie won a National Award and now, Mikhil is all set to make his Bollywood directorial debut with the movie Made In China.

We recently met Mikhil and when we asked him if Rajkummar Rao and Mouni Roy were the first choice for the movie, to which the director said, “This process usually is very subconscious (casting) when you are writing the film. First the actors you reach they become an aspiration for you that what if I get a Rajkummar and Mouni for it. Then you subconsciously start believing that they might do it, and now, when they have actually done it and they are around me, so you feel it like this was the best choice and this is what you wanted.”

“Also, very jokingly someone asked me what if you didn’t get Rajkummar to do this film and I genuinely still can’t think who would have been my choice. Now, after he has played this character so well, I can’t imagine anyone else playing this character. So, definitely this is the best choice I had,” he added.

Wrong Side Raju was a thriller and after watching the trailer of Made In China we can say that it’s a comedy a film. When asked Mikhil if he didn’t think of making a drama or a realistic film as his Bollywood debut, the filmmaker said, “I can’t define Made In China into a certain genre because it deals with different emotions. So, there’s a texture in the film which has got the thrilling part, there’s enough of dramatic moments and of course, there’s comedy flair to it. So, I feel it’s quite a mixed genre film. Of course, shifting the gears from thriller to this was a little scary in the beginning. But I feel that what the story demanded and after we developed the whole screenplay, we realised that the script has its own style and signature. I would wish that the film creates own genre for itself.”

Made In China is slated to release on 25^th October 2019.