When Swanand Kirkire backed Chitrangda Singh for her audition after Sudhir Mishra thought she was terrible

Chitrangda Singh recalled how she cleared her first audition after Sudhir Mishra thought she was terrible. Swanand Kirkire asked to have her come and try again.

Chitrangda Singh, whose latest film is Gaslight, made her acting debut back in 2005 with Sudhir Mishra's Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. The actor started out as a model before the feature and had done one music video before she joined the film industry. In a new interview, she revealed that she very nearly missed out on the part because Sudhir thought she was 'terrible' in her first audition in Delhi. It was the faith and backing of Swanand Kirkire who was Sudhir's chief assistant director that he pushed for another audition in which she was able to nail the tough scenes of the drama.

Chitrangda Singh in a still from her debut film Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi.

The actor recalled coming to Mumbai for the first time to give an audition for the Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. The initial auditions were held in other cities, including Delhi to see candidates for the role of Gita. They arrived at the National School of Drama (NSD) looking to find their lead. Prior to this, Chitrangda had appeared in a music video directed by Gulzar. It was the first time she performed on screen. The line producer of that video was helping Swanand out and recommended Chitrangda to him and she arrived at the auditions with other hopefuls from NSD.

In an interview with The Bombay Journey on their YouTube channel, Chitrangda told Siddhaarth Aalambayan about the whole process. She recalled, "I was the last person [at the audition]. That is when I gave my first audition for Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. The second audition also Swanand took. Finally Sudhir said, 'Okay, you worked hard on her.' Swanand insisted, I know she'll be very good. He sends the first audition out and Sudhir says it's terrible. Swanand insists no. You give me one more chance, I'll give you one more, she's a very good girl."

She went on to say, "Then Sudhir took my audition, he gave the toughest scene. The scene where she's gotten raped in the police station and the other one when she's screaming at the cops. I think I did it really well. Sudhir was pretty happy with the audition so that's how. That was my arrival."

The political drama also starred Kay Kay Menon, Shiney Ahuja, Saurabh Shukla and Ram Kapoor. Swanand also wrote the lyrics and sang a few songs on the film's soundtrack.