Hansal Mehta On His Equation With Rajkummar Rao: He’s A Part Of My Family

Hansal Mehta's directorial Chhalaang marks his fifth collaboration with actor Rajkummar Rao. The duo has worked together in Shahid, Aligarh, Omerta and CityLights. Yesterday (November 13, 2020), Chhalaang released on Amazon Prime Video, and the film has been receiving mixed response from the audiences.

In his recent tete-a-tete with an entertainment portal, Hansal Mehta opened up about his equation with Rao, and said he's a part of his family.

Mehta told DNA, "This is our 5th film together and our 6th collaboration. Our relationship surely has evolved over time. He is more than just a collaborator or an actor. He is a part of my family. Having said that, every new film comes with its own set of challenges, and as director and actor we are both always looking at challenging ourselves and are keen to ready to push ourselves further to try new things and that is the constant factor in our evolving relationship."

Chhalaang, which is a sports-based drama, is a new territory for both Mehta and Rao. When Mehta was asked about Chhalaang, he said, "Chhalaang is like a leap of faith for me. Raj (Rajkumar Rao) and me, we have made different kinds of films together. All our films, that were intense previously, have been well received by the audiences. But, we felt it was time to try some new territory. And although Raj was doing humour-kind of films, I felt he had that urge that I should also try my hand at humour."

He further added, "Luv, who was shooting in London at that time, called me and narrated this idea to me and I thought to myself that it is a lovely idea, something worth taking a leap of faith."