Raj Nidimoru says another actor was originally cast as Chellam sir in The Family Man 2: ‘It just wasn’t working out’

Raj Nidimoru, co-creator of The Family Man, revealed that another actor was originally cast as Chellam sir in the second season of the show. The role was eventually played by Uday Mahesh.

The Family Man 2, created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, better known as Raj and DK, came out on Amazon Prime Video earlier this month to positive critical and audience reception. Chellam sir, a retired agent who helps Manoj Bajpayee’s character Srikant Tiwari thwart a terror attack, became one of the most talked-about characters of the show.

During a Clubhouse session titled Inside The Writers’ Room – The Family Man, moderated by Aniruddha Guha and Janice Sequeira, Raj said that another actor was originally cast as Chellam sir but ‘it just wasn’t working out’. Eventually, Uday Mahesh was brought on board.

“A fun fact that I don’t think many people know is that we actually cast another actor and we shot for a bit. Not even shot, we were preparing to shoot, and it just wasn’t working out. Not working out because he was not well. Poor guy was just not in good health. He didn’t know what was going on… I think he hadn’t been acting for a very, very long time, so it just didn’t work out. We felt very bad and didn’t know what to do. Even he said, ‘excuse me’, because he was just not there at all,” he said.

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“So, then, we scrambled to find a guy and we even thought for a brief second, ‘Why don’t we make Suman (Kumar, writer) Chellam?’ Because he likes Chellam so much. Suman actually got ready, he got a haircut and everything, and then DK vetoed him out. He said, ‘No way he looks like Chellam!’ Then we got the real Chellam,” he added.

The Family Man stars Manoj Bajpayee as a spy who juggles between his demanding profession and domestic life. The show also features Priyamani, Sharad Kelkar, Sharib Hashmi and Shreya Dhanwanthary. Samantha Akkineni made her digital debut with the second season, as the antagonist.

The Family Man 2 ended with a tease of where the next season’s story is possibly headed. The final scene was set against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and hinted that the action might shift to the Northeastern states.