Boman Irani didn’t want to do Uunchai, Anupam Kher called him and asked, ‘Tum pagal ho kya?’

Ahead of the film’s grand premiere in Mumbai, Uunchai director Sooraj Barjatya, along with film’s male cast members — Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher and Boman Irani — sat down for a quick chat, where they discussed everything, from the film’s inception to its casting. It was revealed during the course of the conversation that Boman was initially hesitant about doing the film, and needed to be convinced Anupam.
“I called him and asked, ‘Tum pagal ho kya, tum iss picture mein kyu nahi kaam karna chahte (Are you mad? Why don’t you want to work on this project)? It is one of the finest films I have worked on,” Anupam said. However, later Boman said that it was due to a personal crisis that he was unable to give his nod to the movie immediately.
Sooraj Barjatya, who has not only helmed but also bankrolled the film under his Rajshri Productions banner, said that while he had bought the rights to the script back in 2016, he had no plans on directing it as it was ‘not his style.’
“I was writing a film with all the Diwali celebration, teej tyohaar. This was not my film, it came to me from a writer in 2016 and I bought the rights to it. I kept telling myself this is not my style, but when Covid came, I thought this subject should be made (to ignite) hope. I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to make one film where I was not concerned about how many dancers are there, what are the first day collections etcetera. It’s something I wanted to do for myself,” the director confessed.

Senior Bachchan lavished praise on Barjatya and his team for being disciplined and determined about the work they wanted to present to their audience.
Also starring Parineeti Chopra, Neena Gupta, Sarika and Danny Denzongpa, Uunchai releases in cinemas on November 11.