Meet the kids from Dhanak

“Shah Rukh Khan is the best,” beams Hetal Gada. “No way, Salman Khan is the best,” says Krrish Chhabria. We catch up with the two kid stars in a candid verbal fight over their favourite idol. Oozing with confidence, it’s clear that they aren’t here just for one movie and have a long way to go.

The two play the role of Pari and Chotu in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak (Rainbow), that promises to be an enchanting, and magical fable set in Rajasthan.

Nagesh says, “The film has received a tremendous response at all the film festivals. The story revolves around the wonderful relationship between a 10-year-old girl Pari and Chotu, her eight-year-old brother, who live in a village nestled among the sand dunes. Chotu is blind but is happy and a precocious kid. Pari is his eyes, his guide and the duo set out to meet Shah Rukh Khan in person, as she is sure that she can request him to make Chotu get his eyesight back. I chose these two kids from over 500 kids who came for auditions.”

Krrish is already being referred to as Chotu by his friends.

He says, “My heart told me I want to be an actor. My dad is a doctor and I have an older sister. We met each other after the seventh round of auditions and I was so excited. Nagesh and Elahe (Hiptoola) made us feel so comfortable that we didn’t miss our parents all through the 33 days of shoot. We also got a little sunburnt as we were not allowed to wear sun glasses and were using only umbrellas. We were just so happy with this role that all this didn’t bother us. All of us cried a lot on the last day on the sets as we had so much fun together.”

Hetal chips in adding that everyone calls her Pari now. “I love to act and I’ve already been acting in a few television serials and commercials. My school has also been very supportive and my classmates are my fans now. They want me to take them to award functions. I have no siblings and my mom is a single mother who works as a casting director.”

She adds, Krrish is like my real brother now. There are a lot of insects in Rajasthan and we were shooting in the summer months so it was really hot. Apart from that, it was all fine. But Nagesh sir was happy with the insects and heat as he loves to be in the midst of nature. We have both worked in another short film with Nagesh sir.”