Rana Daggubati recalls being kidnapped for YJHD cameo

Rana Daggubati’s brief appearance in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani has always been one of the film’s most fondly remembered surprises. At IFP at Mehboob Studios in Mumbai, the actor finally pulled back the curtain: the cameo was not planned by a casting team, but by friendship, an impromptu flight and what he laughingly called a “kidnap.”

A hotel-room ‘kidnap’ in Mumbai

Rana was already on another film’s shoot and staying at Taj Lands End in Mumbai. Ranbir Kapoor and director Ayan Mukerji, he said, knocked on his door and insisted he join them for a late-night shoot in Udaipur.

“They just kidnapped me and said you have to come to Udaipur tonight with us,” Rana recalled. “They took me on the flight and shot that scene with me and came back.”

The role a bigger star said no to

Rana made it clear that he was not the first choice. A leading star had been offered the brief role before him and turned it down. The reason he said yes was simple: his bond with Ranbir and Ayan.

The actor admitted he barely remembers the shoot itself. “I vaguely remember something happened in the night. I shot something and I was back in the morning to another set,” he said, adding that he does not see cameos as equal to full-fledged roles.

A cameo that became a YJHD highlight

For fans, the backstory only adds to the charm of the 2013 romantic drama. Directed by Ayan Mukerji, the film starred Deepika Padukone as Naina and Ranbir Kapoor as Bunny, with Aditya Roy Kapur and Kalki Koechlin in key roles. In the film, Rana appears for a few minutes at Aditi’s wedding, where he tries to flirt with Naina before Bunny intervenes.

The whistle-stop shoot, by the numbers:

• Rana was already filming another movie in Mumbai
• Ranbir and Ayan arrived at his Taj Lands End hotel
• They flew to Udaipur that same night
• He was back on a different set the next morning

The tale is a neat reminder of how offhand decisions between friends can become one of a blockbuster’s most talked-about moments.

Source: The Times of India