Rajkummar Rao-Saif Ali Khan in Jigarthanda remake

Apart from Rajkummar, director Abhishek Chaubey was also keen on Saif, who has earlier played a desi gangster in Omkara and Bullett Raja.

Rajkummar Rao has been confirmed to play the lead role in the Sajid Nadiadwala-produced remake of the Tamil film Jigarthanda. The actor will essay the role played by Siddharth Narayan in the Tamil version.

Interestingly, Saif Ali Khan’s name is being considered to play the role of the gangster in the film. Saif has played a desi gangster Langda Tyagi earlier in the Vishal Bahradwaj film Omkara and in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullett Raja. Saif in an interview had said that he was looking forth to play a classy gangster in one of his future films as well.

“When Ajay Devgn bought the rights of the film a few years ago, he wanted Farhan to play the filmmaker and Sanjay Dutt to play the gangster. The casting was like picking up the sitting ducks to essay the roles, as both Farhan and Sanju were apt to do it. But since that project went into cold storage, director Abhishek Chaubey came out with his wishlist for the roles and has zeroed in on Rajkummar and Saif for the said characters. While Bobby Simha had a very desi style in the Tamil film, the character designed for Saif is a little more stylish,” reveals a source.