Casting director Mukesh Chhabra gets threat calls

Top Bollywood casting director Mukesh Chhabra plans to file a police complaint after getting intimidating calls from newbie actors

Top Bollywood casting director Mukesh Chhabra plans to file a police complaint after getting intimidating calls from newbie actors

He is one of the busiest guys in the business, presently working on several big-ticket films including the Aamir Khan-starrer P.K., Bullet Raja starring Saif Ali Khan, and Ranbir Kapoor’s next, Bombay Velvet. So it’s not surprising that newcomers want to catch casting director Mukesh Chhabra’s eye. But this incident gives ‘getting attention’ to a whole new level.

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For the last few days, Chhabra has been receiving threatening calls and text messages, presumably from amateur actors. It seems they are warning him of dire consequences if he doesn’t cast them in a film soon! That’s not all. A few days back, his car was vandalised and before that, a group of four-five boys had turned up drunk at his door around the release of Gangs of Wasseypur (for which he did the casting) series.

Chhabra is now planning to file a police complaint. “I will approach the police if these things continue,” he says. Apparently, many new actors have even tried to bribe him, offering him up to R10 lakh. After he turned them down, it seems they resorted to threats.

“Now, I’m being told that someone is using my name to dupe other actors for a role. I don’t know how to control such things,” says Chhabra, who is also working on the Irrfan-Arjun Rampal starrer D-Day. Chhabra, however, doesn’t seem like one to flinch: “Threats or no threats, I love and respect my work, and do it with honesty. I don’t want to pay attention to such things,” he says.