{"id":400257,"date":"2026-04-19T14:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/400257\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T14:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:43:09","slug":"i-was-lucky-enough-to-find-her-anurag-basu-reveals-how-he-cast-kangana-ranaut-in-gangster-hindi-movie-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/400257\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I was lucky enough to find her’: Anurag Basu reveals how he cast Kangana Ranaut in \u2018Gangster\u2019 | Hindi Movie News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'I‘Gangster’, Anurag Basu’s cult romantic thriller, turns 20. He revealed envisioning a “pahadan” like Kangana Ranaut, whom he cast opposite Emraan Hashmi despite chemo\u2014cooking dal together on a lean shoot abroad. Anurag Basu<\/a>‘s \u2018Gangster\u2019 remains one of his most cherished films. This romantic crime thriller has earned a devoted cult following. Marking its 20th anniversary, the director shared memories of casting Kangana Ranaut<\/a> opposite Emraan Hashmi.<\/p>\n

Casting Kangana Ranaut<\/p>\n

In his Variety India interview, Anurag revealed how he selected Kangana, saying, \u201cI had an image of the girl in my mind, which was very similar to Kangana, and I was lucky enough to find her. I was struggling because I was meeting many girls and consulting with a lot of actresses. But there was none like Kangana around that time. So, I had a very clear image of a girl like this, a pahadan (from the mountains). So, when I first met her, I didn\u2019t tell her immediately that she had been cast because directors are always greedy.”\u201cSo, I auditioned her and said, \u2018You wait for five-six days. I\u2019ll get back to you.\u2019 I was still looking for a new girl for another five to six days. I couldn\u2019t find one better than Kangana. I confirmed her for the film,” he continued. <\/p>\n

Watch<\/p>\n

Kangana Ranaut Shuts Down Dating Rumours With Chirag Paswan With Viral Remark <\/p>\n

Gangster’s shooting struggles<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the toughest part of filming abroad, Basu shared, \u201cWhen I first conceived the film, I wanted to go on the floor very quickly. Everybody was stopping me from doing so, as I was undergoing chemotherapy at the time. They wanted me to start the shoot after I had recovered. But the only way I could deal with the chemo and everything happening to me was by going on the floor. I was desperate to start. We went there with a very small unit because we couldn\u2019t afford many people. We used to cook our own lunch. Kangana would cut onions, and I would cook dal. Everybody would eat and then go for the shoot\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gangster’s key credits<\/p>\n

Directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Mahesh Bhatt, \u2018Gangster\u2019 also features Shiney Ahuja. It weaves an intricate love triangle amid themes of crime and betrayal.<\/p>\n

Poll<\/p>\n

Would you like to see Gangster remade with a new cast?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘Gangster’, Anurag Basu’s cult romantic thriller, turns 20. He revealed envisioning a “pahadan” like Kangana Ranaut, whom he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[15740,1558,146,132737,85,46,52609,25455,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-400257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-anurag-basu","9":"tag-bollywood","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-gangster","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-kangana","15":"tag-kangana-ranaut","16":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}