Casting Director Mukesh Chhabra revealed that many actors had turned down the role of Rehman Dakait in Dhurandhar which eventually went to Akshaye Khanna. He said one of the South actors and two Bollywood actors declined the role as they thought it was weird. Speaking about the casting, Chhabra said the team had approached multiple actors for various roles and had reached out to Akshaye Khanna. One of the main reasons the other actors had turned down the offer was that the film Dhurandhar was led by the superstar Ranveer Singh.   

Chhabra expressed that once the film was released and Dhurandhar became a hit, he started receiving messaged from these actors who had refused the role stating that they wished they had said yes.!

The actors who had refused the role had given Mukesh Chhabra weird logic reasons. He was in fact very shocked, considering the scale the movie was planned and anticipated around the director Aditya Dhar with the multi ensemble star cast,  though the role may have been weird it was perfect setting for the scenes that required it. 

How did actor Akshaye Khanna come on board ? 

Mukesh Chhabra said he had entered with a conversation regarding getting Akshaye Khanna on board and then he is a great actor and he personally  had reached out to the actor and narrated the script to him.  He heard out the script and shortly reverted saying he will come all the way for the narration and said it was a fantastic script  and next day he messaged me , ‘ I am doing it ’.  

Anil Kapoor was one of them who confirmed he was approached for the role and that he would have loved to be a part of the Dhurandhar epic but he had other prior commitments hence the role eventually saw Akshaye Khanna who became an over night sensation after the film was released. The fans, audience and the masses loved him and his role and he is one of the most popular actors much loved as Rehman Dacait .