Siddhant Chaturvedi reveals why he was rejected roles in Hollywood films, Disney’s Aladdin and Million Dollar Arm

Siddhant Chaturvedi did his Bollywood debut with Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy. Also known as MC Sher, he quickly charmed the audience with not only his acting but also with his boyish looks, cute smile and curly hair. He recently dubbed the Hindi version of Men In Black: International, starring Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. 

In his recent interview, Siddhant revealed that before trying his luck in Bollywood, he had auditioned for two Hollywood projects, Disney’s latest release Aladdin and 2014’s Million Dollar Arm. Reliving those auditions, he recalled, “I had auditioned for the lead role in Aladdin. I was there in at least top 20 from India. 

"This is for the role of Aladdin, they were looking for an Indian boy back then but then they decided the accent needs to be international. It was their call. Then there was another film called 'Million Dollar Arm'. I did audition for it as well, it was not for dubbing. They had two Indian guys who play baseball; I did the audition for that. They felt I was too upmarket and fair for it," Siddhant told PTI.

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The 26-year-old actor further added that he has his eyes set on Hollywood and he wants to break the language barrier between the two industries. "I do believe we are no less than anyone else. It is a language barrier between two film industries - Hollywood and Bollywood and I want to break that barrier." He also added that he wants to focus on his Bollywood career first, "I am an Indian actor but I want to do everything. At the moment I want to focus here (on Hindi films) but I am open to the idea of working there (West)."

Talking about the dubbing of MIB: International and the experience, Siddhant reveals, “I was looking to sign my next film and was reading a lot of scripts, my agent called me and asked me if I would be interested in dub for Chris Hemsworth's character in his Hollywood film 'Men In Black'. I almost choked. I am a huge fan of Chris, he is a superhero, and he is Thor.”

"I was thinking if I can match his manly, husky voice as he has a baritone. It was a challenge for me. And I started doing rehearsals for it," he added.

For the Hindi version, Siddhant said the team decided to give a desi touch to Agent H (played by Hemsworth) to make it more appealing. "It is an action-comedy and you can't literally translate and dub everything as the jokes will then fall flat. I suggested making it desi for Indian audience because their culture and humour is different. As the lingo of Gully Boy has caught up in a big way so we thought of adding a little bit of that thing. But it is not there throughout the film," he said.

According to the actor, the desi touch that he added to the dubbed version of MIB: International got the approval from Chris Hemsworth. "He liked it and felt I have done a great job."

The live-action film Aladdin, starring Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott and Marwan Kenzari, was directed by Guy Ritchie; while the Million Dollar Arm, a biographical sports drama, starring Suraj Sharma and Madhur Mittal, was directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Meanwhile, MIB: International is all set to release on June 14 in Hindi, English, Tamil, and Telugu.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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