Rahul Bhat on working with Anurag Kashyap in Kennedy: Never been his first choice

Actor Rahul Bhat opened up about reuniting with Anurag Kashyap for Kennedy, revealing why this collaboration felt inevitable from the start.

Actor Rahul Bhat has teamed up once again with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap -- this time for Kennedy. The reunion marks their third collaboration, and if Bhat’s candid remarks are anything to go by, this wasn’t a project he could have walked away from.

In an exclusive conversation with India Today, Bhat admitted that working with Kashyap is rarely comfortable -- and that’s precisely the point. “He has broken me down many times,” he said, half in jest, adding that the filmmaker has a knack for pushing actors into emotionally vulnerable spaces. Yet, beneath the intensity lies trust. “Anurag and I have cried together a few times. I’m very thankful that I have somebody like him.”

By the time Kennedy came along, there was no hesitation in the air. According to Bhat, Kashyap seemed certain about casting him from the outset.

Their earlier collaboration, Dobara, had involved discussions about roles and casting possibilities -- with Bhat even suggesting other actors at one point. Ironically, it was a producer who asked the obvious question: why not him?

With Kennedy, however, there was no such back and forth. “I think I was in his mind from the beginning,” Bhat said, suggesting the decision felt instinctive rather than strategic.

Bhat’s answer is disarmingly honest. “I might not have been the first choice. I’ve never been his first choice, I think,” he admitted. But he quickly reframed the narrative: “The most important thing is that I am the choice. The right choice.”