Cast in the right mould

From casting couch & nepotism to finding a new face, going to small cities, training actors and filtering the best, a casting director dons multiple hats. Anmol Ahuja shares some insights with Sangeeta Yadav about his biggest discovery and how it has emerged as a booming profession

Back in the 1990s, only a few people would have imagined that a casting director could become an important person in the industry. His job is to find new talent but get the casting right. What used to be the job of assistant director (AD) has now emerged as a separate job — that of a casting director. Such is their importance in a movie that they have started finding a mention in the closing credits of a film.

“Casting direction, which is a well-established and organised industry in the West, has gained footing in Hindi cinema in the last 10 years. All the casting directors have emerged from being AD’s working in the casting department. For instance, Gautam Kishanchandani, who was the casting director of No One Killed Jessica, was Anurag Kashmir’s AD. The best casting director Honey Trehan was also an AD to Vishal Bhardwaj,” Anmol Ahuja, co-founder of Casting Bay, says, who too was an AD to Anurag Kashyap at one time.

What used to be a small department has now emerged as an alternate profession. “Nowadays, casting director’s job is taken very seriously. It is one department of filmmaking where you are involved in the process of filmmaking on the creative side with the director,” says Ahuja who has done the casting of Toilet-Ek Prem Katha, OK Jaanu and Secret Superstar. For him, 2018 looks promising with films like Bombay Talkies 2, Student Of The Year 2 and Peddlers. He has also been a part of a few shows on TVF, Amazon Print, Applause & ALT.

Back then, hiring a casting director meant additional cost. Not a lot of people were open to the idea of hiring one to get the best actors on board. But now, the moment a film is announced, the first person who gets hired is a casting director. This is good for the industry — for actors looking for diverse roles and filmmakers to experiment with new stories.

One is told that casting is no less than an art. It not only looks at finding the right actor but to study the script and the character, do an in-depth research and act as an intermediate between the actor and director.

“I read the script and understand whether I will be able to do justice to the project. Once the script is understood, character sketches are made. We then go back to the director with references, understand if we are on the same page or not. Then we design the process of the audition, get in touch with the actor, tell them exactly what the scene demands,” Ahuja explains.

During auditions when the casting director says ‘action’, the director not only looks for the actor’s compatibility with the character he has to play but also what newness the actor can introduce himself. “There will be certain parts which we leave open to see how an actor performs the scene differently. We are a bridge between the actor and the director. Though it is the director who takes the final call, the word of the casting director is just as important since the director trusts them to give the best,” Ahuja says.

The filtering process is challenging. There is a dilemma whether one should cast someone who doesn’t fall into the character sketch the director is looking for or go for the obvious. Also, during auditions, the actor has to perform on two scenes so that the team can make a calculated decision. It is all about doing plenty of research.

From travelling to Meghalaya to cast actors from Khasi tribe to getting local people on board from Mathura for Toilet-Ek Prem Katha, be it professional or amateur actors, casting directors walk that extra mile to find the best that there is.

Talking about his biggest discovery, Ahuja says: “Tirth Sharma, who played Chintan in Secret Superstar, is our biggest discovery. We were looking for a boy who looked innocent and belonged to a Gujarati family. Abhishek Banerjee, my partner, went to Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat and got in touch with theatre companies. That is how we met Tirth,” Ahuja tells you.

Though there are many who get rejected every day, the key is to keep working on the craft. “We try to help actors since it is our job to nurture talent. The problem is there are fewer actors and more dreamers. When we get such a person, we tell him that if he wants to pursue acting professionally he needs to train and do workshops which will help them understand the craft better,” Ahuja says adding that for the ongoing seven to nine projects, between 40-50 people are being auditioned every day for different projects.

As for whether nepotism exists or not, Ahuja says: “It doesn’t. No filmmaker would ever cast an actor if he is unsuitable for the part because a film is bigger than any relative, relation and companionship. No one wants to compromise on their work. But there are people who more comfortable working with a set of people and that exists in every sector. For instance, there are a lot of dentists in the market but you go to one particular doctor because one has a comfort level with them.”

As the role of casting director picked up, the much talked about casting couch too emerged. The term, one is told, should be removed. Instead  one should use the term exploiting couch since it exists in every field. “The reason why the entertainment industry is under the scanner is because our field has the glamour quotient and casting directors are always under the spotlight. The need of the hour is to have a free and safe work place, set up Vishakha guidelines and have CCTVs. This would help the casting sector become more professional.

“My suggestion to every actor is whenever you experience something like that, one should speak out. If we don’t talk about such people and incidents, the exploiter will never get caught. Not many know about the Vishakha guideline and how these will help them. No one can make or break your career. Your talent who takes you to places,” Ahuja says.