Juhi Chawla’s Controversial Comment About Manoj Bajpayee in ‘Chalk N Duster’

Juhi Chawla once made headlines for allegedly dismissing Manoj Bajpayee for a role in the film Chalk N Duster. The actress reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with Bajpayee’s casting, saying he “looked too poor” to play the role of a quizmaster. She insisted that the filmmakers should cast a more “sophisticated” actor.

Juhi Chawla portrayed schoolteacher Jyoti in the 2016 movie Chalk N Duster, which featured the aforementioned quizmaster role. Manoj Bajpayee was slated to play a crafty school superintendent in the same movie. Juhi reportedly questioned Manoj Bajpayee’s suitability for a certain post, though.

In the early stages of casting, she stated, “Manoj looks too poor to play the role of a quizmaster. She felt that they should get a sophisticated actor for the part,” according to the SpotboyE article. She believed that a sophisticated actor should be cast in the role. Although the comment was made in jest, it brought to light the sharp contrasts between the performers’ public and on-screen identities.

In the end, Rishi Kapoor was cast. Despite being a niche film, Chalk N Duster is nonetheless an important work because of its socially relevant issue and the cast’s outstanding performances. In addition to Juhi Chawla and Rishi Kapoor’s cameos, the film featured important roles from Shabana Azmi, Zarina Wahab, Girish Karnad, and Divya Dutta.