Thank God director Indra Kumar reveals people warned him about hiring Sidharth Malhotra: ‘They had doubts…’

Film director Indra Kumar revealed in a new interview that people told him to think twice before hiring Sidharth Malhotra for his new film Thank God, because the actor doesn’t have a track record in the comedy genre.
After directing 90s’ romance films such as Beta, Raja and Ishq, Indra Kumar had a career resurgence with slapstick comedies such as Dhamaal, Grand Masti, Great Grand Masti and Total Dhamaal. In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, the filmmaker was asked who has the better comic timing between Sidharth Malhotra and Riteish Deshmukh.

The director said that even Sidharth would agree that Riteish is a better comedic actor. Sidharth said that he has worked with Riteish on a couple of films, and was impressed his quick-witted nature off camera. As it turns out, both those films — Marjaavaan and Ek Villain — happened to be the ones in which Riteish had tried to step outside his comfort zone and play dark characters.
Indra Kumar continued, “What he has done in this film, the reactions, he’s done it beautifully. People would question me earlier, why him, can he do comedy? And I told them he could, 100%.” The interviewer asked, “People were doubting you?” And the director quipped, “Not me, him,” pointing at Sidharth. “He’s never done comedy, he’s a sweet boy.”
The actor chipped in, “When you step into a new zone, this is bound to happen. In this film, we’re doing unusual scenes with the promise of full entertainment. I was very excited to do this. I had seen Indu ji’s films, and I knew that if I wanted to step into this genre, who better than him.”
Thank God also features Ajay Devgn, Rakul Preet Singh and Nora Fatehi. The film will be released in theatres this Friday. Sidharth will next be seen in Yodha and Mission Majnu.