Lara Dutta Recalls Being Nervous About Addressing Naseeruddin Shah As ‘Buddha,' 'Pagal’ In 'Kaun Banegi Shikharwati'

Bollywood actress Lara Dutta, who stars in the upcoming series 'Kaun Banegi Shikharwati,' recounted an event involving Naseeruddin Shah and Raghubir Yadav.

In an interview with PTI, Dutta said that one of her lines asked her to refer to the veteran actors as "mad" and "old men."

Lara Dutta said, "I have a line on the show, where I look at Raghubir ji (Raghubir Yadav) and Naseer saab (Naseeruddin Shah) and say, 'Kya tum dono buddhe paagal ho gaye ho? (Have both you old men lost your mind?)'. I was like, I just can't say this to them. I said, 'Can we please rewrite it?' But both of them were like, 'Just have fun with it'.

"There is a tremendous amount of nervousness and anxiety when you are facing an actor like that. Naseer saab is light-years ahead of us in terms of his craft. But what an incredible opportunity to watch, learn, observe and imbibe. One of the biggest reasons for me to do the show was that he was in it," she added.

Talking about the show, she said, "So their coming together to play these games with each other, leads to a lot of comedy, fun and quirkiness. I loved the opportunity to step into a world like that. Have this crazy family led by an eccentric king. They live in fancy areas of Mumbai and Delhi, lead a cosmopolitan life but the moment they go back to their kingdom and principalities, they have to wear these saris with ghunghats (veils). They live in a different world for that amount of time that they spend there."

'Kaun Banegi Shikharwati,' directed by Gauravv Chawla and Ananya Banerjee, will air on ZEE5 on January 7. The program also includes Soha Ali Khan, Kritika Kamra, and Anya Singh as Naseeruddin Shah's daughters, in addition to Dutta. The narrative follows the daughters as they participate in a series of royal games, the winner of which would be chosen as Shah's heir.

Lara Dutta's third web series will be 'Kaun Banegi Shikharwati.' She has previously appeared in Disney+ Hotstar's 'Hundred' and Lionsgate Play's 'Hiccups and Hookups.' She was most recently featured in the film 'Bell Bottom,' in which she portrayed former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Akshay Kumar played the lead role in the film.