Usha Nadkarni rejected Gully Boy after being asked for audition: 'Tell the daughter of a big man Zoya Akhtar to Google my name'

Veteran actress Usha Nadkarni, who became a household name after her stint in Pavitra Rishta and featured in films like Rustom, Vaastav, R… Rajkumar and Bhoothnath Returns among others, revealed that he she rejected a key role in director Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy featuring Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt and Siddhant Chaturvedi, after she was asked to do audition for the character.

“There was a movie called Gully Boy, and someone called me in for an audition. I asked him how old he is, he said he’s 25. I told him, ‘I’ve been working for longer than your mother has been alive’. Main aise faaltu kaam karti nahi audition dene ka. I asked who the director is, and he told me. I said, ‘Bade baap ki beti hai na. Mera kaam dekh. Computer pe naam laga mera, phir maalum padega maine kya kya kiya hai (She’s the daughter of a big man, isn’t she. I told him to tell her to look me up, and she’ll know who I am and what I’ve done)’,” said Nadkarni while talking to PinkVilla.

She added, “These assistant director kids think they’re special. But they can’t string two sentences together. Once, they called me in for another audition, and I reached the location and saw two kids sitting there. They didn’t even have the courtesy to offer me a chair. Their parents didn’t teach them manners. They told me the person I’d come to meet was busy, and handed me a script to read for them. I hurled the script and walked out. These people drive me mad. Saamne waale ki aukaat dekho aur phir bolo audition dene ko. Call me arrogant, but I’m not wrong.”

Comparing the time with her experience on Akshay Kumar starrer Rustom, she shared, “They called me, explained what I had to do, and gave me the part. They didn’t ask me to audition, and I was paid for my work. That’s how it should be.”