Mirzapur Actor Priyanshu Painyuli Opens Up On Losing Sacred Games’ Kukkoo To Kubbra Sait(Photo Credit – Instagram/Still From Sacred Games)
Advertisement
Actor Priyanshu Painyuli received widespread acclamation for his role as Robin (Radhesyam) in Amazon Prime Video’s action crime thriller series Mirzapur. But not many know that he was supposed to play Kukoo in Sacred Games. Scroll down to know more.
For the unversed, Kukoo was Kubbra Sait’s breakout role in Sacred Games. She received accolades from critics and audiences for her performances in the series. Kukoo was a transgender who falls in love with Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Ganesh Gaitonde in the series.
Now during a conversation with Times Of India, Priyanshu Painyuli revealed the roles he auditioned for but lost out on. “One of my favourite ones was MC Sher, Gully Boy, which Siddhant (Chaturvedi) did. This is an interesting one, not many people know about it. I was a finalist with Kubbra for Kukoo’s role in Sacred Games.”
Elaborating further on his preparation and auditioning for Kukkoo, he said, “I lost weight and this was while Bhavesh Joshi was being edited. (Vikramaditya) Motwane sir came to me and he said ‘We are trying to figure out whether a guy should play Kukoo or a girl. And we are testing people, auditioning people, would you like to understand this?’ And I met Anurag Kashyap sir and understood the part. He said ‘I know how you act and I have no problem with that. Tu accha kar hi lega scenes mein but read some of the Kukoo scene and see if you want to attempt it. Because it is a little tricky to play that part’.”
Priyanshu Painyuli also said, “So I read those scenes and said give me one month’s time. So it took a lot of prep. These guys also enjoyed the prep. I remember wearing five-inch heels, walking around the house, lost weight. I have pictures of my Kukoo trial test. The same get-up that Kubbra did. I got the eyelashes, the wig, the same gown, and I had to learn the dance very very much. Like Parveen Babi was the reference. So I danced at the studio in the whole outfit. Eventually, Netflix and everybody decided that (they should go with a woman for the role). But I think what Kubbra brought in that I was missing somewhere was that she was bringing in that body language which is very important as Kuk. When I saw her doing it, I thought yea, she was the right one. I wasn’t so graceful when I danced either.”
