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Director Gopichand Malineni reveals Nandamuri Balakrishna was his first choice for Jaat

Jaat filmmaker Gopichand Malineni reveals he initially pitched the film's script to Telugu superstar Nandamuri Balakrishna, but he turned it down. He then went on to star Sunny Deol in the lead role.

April 30, 2025 / 18:06 IST
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Jaat filmmaker Gopichand Malineni shares inside details of the film's casting

Sunny Deol is riding on the success of his recently released film Jaat. The film is still running in the theatres and has received positive reviews from the audience and critics alike.

However, the filmmaker Gopichand Malineni has recently revealed that Sunny Deol was not his first choice for the film. Instead, he wanted to cast a Tollywood superstar.

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In a recent interview with TeluguOne, the director revealed that he initially pitched the script to Nandamuri Balakrishna, but he turned it down. While reflecting on the projects that Gopichand had pitched to Balakrishna, he added, “Yes, it’s a different story. Actually, the first story I thought of is now Jaat.”

He confirmed that Deol was not the first one he pitched the film to and explained, “I had two to three stories actually for Balayya babu. After Akhanda, people had high expectations of him. And, of course, he knew that.”