Arjun Bijlani was unreachable, Amyra Dastur had a fake manager: Chumbak makers on casting chaos

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai , Khichdi, Baa Bahoo Aur Baby and many more — the director-producer duo of Aatish Kapadia and JD Majethia has delivered some of the most iconic shows on Indian television. This week, they released their new show Chumbak , which they say is an attempt to bring old-world charm to the setting of a modern, educated neighbourhood.

The show's casting is also unique. It brings together the OGs — Neena Gupta, Deven Bhojani and Sumeet Raghavan — along with TV star Arjun Bijlani and Delnaaz Irani, queen of Gujarati cinema Manasi Parekh, OTT stars such as Sumeet Vyas and Anant Joshi, and Bollywood actor Amyra Dastur. It's a potluck of talent.

In an exclusive conversation with The Hindustan Times, Chumbak creators Aatish Kapadia and JD Majethia broke down the show's casting process and revealed how some of its stars almost missed out.

Speaking about Arjun Bijlani's casting journey, JD said, “Every actor has a distinct casting story. For instance, Arjun Bijlani gave the look test and went to participate in Rise and Fall. In the final three days, we had locked down other options, and we were under pressure to lock the cast now. After seeing Arjun's look test, we wanted to talk to him, but he was unreachable as he was in the show. But we decided to take one chance and contacted his wife, Neha, who asked us to wait three days until the finale. As soon as he exited after the finale, we spoke that evening, met the next day, and locked him for the role.”

While casting Arjun took some time, the decision to convince Neena Gupta was quick. Aatish shared, "We also avoid overly obvious casting. For Neena Gupta, we narrated three lines of her character at her home, mentioned it was a comedy, and she agreed on the spot, saying, "I am doing this show."

However, the makers revealed that Neena initially wondered if Deven Bhojani was too young to play her husband on the show. But Deven surprised her and the others with his performance. Aatish said, "His performance will blow your mind."

The makers shared that, like Arjun, Amyra Dastur also almost lost out on the show due to confusion. JD said, "For Amyra Dastur, someone was pretending to be her manager, and he initially claimed she wasn't interested in OTT or that she wasn't available. But we sent her a message through someone else, and she immediately clarified that she is interested. When we asked her, her manager informed us that she isn't available; she told us that that person isn't her manager."

Talking about the other actors, Aatish said, "We cast actors who add value and strength to the characters rather than simply casting friends. Everyone has a distinct space without overlap: Helly Shah plays a flamboyant, spoiled gangster's daughter. Delnaaz plays a b***hy mother-in-law. Sumeet Vyas plays a cool dude. Anant Joshi is not Parsi — he is a Pahari boy — yet he plays a Parsi "mama's boy" and nailed the accent effortlessly in his audition, sounding even more Parsi than Amyra or Delnaaz."

JD added, "Beyond the main 10 actors, there are 15 other talented actors making special appearances, similar to the casting style of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai.