Photo: Mukesh Chhabra/InstagramAnurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, easily one of the most ambitious gangster dramas to come out of India, not only changed the language of such dramas — the repercussions can be felt to this day — but also gave a new crop of actors to Hindi cinema. As the film celebrates 10 years of release, film’s casting director Mukesh Chhabra opened up about the casting scene in Hindi cinema, then and now.
The film catapulted Nawazuddin Siddiqui to stardom, introduced Richa Chaddha and Huma Qureshi, and brought Jaideep Ahlawat into focus. Vineet Kumar Singh and Pankaj Tripathi were other big finds of this film.
In an interview to Film Companion, Chhabra said the film changed the course of things for him as his name appeared in the opening credits of the film. “Earlier, people would cast from an existing roster of actors. They would google recent films and cast the same 4-5 faces in the same kind of roles. In Wasseypur we broke that,” he said.
Chhabra emphasised on the importance of details and understanding the director’s perspective when casting , while underlining how important it is to have freedom while choosing actors for roles. Sharing how a casting director’s job is to create the right atmosphere and make casting interesting, he credits his success to Anurag Kashyap. “The thing about Anurag is that he trusts his talent. Very few people do that. My understanding of casting developed even more because of Kashyap,” he explained.
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Talking about the job, he mentioned that a lot of time goes in just thinking, rather than just auditioning people. Chhabra, who was the face behind casting for Rockstar, Kai Po Che, Dangal, and PK among others, believes that there are no good or bad actors and everything depends on casting. He also acknowledged that casting is a big responsibility and “It took us many years to get the respect. That this is a very important department”.
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Chhabra feels that the country is full of talented people and there’s work for everyone here. He feels that because of successful films such as Wasseypur, many new actors have started frequenting Mumbai in search of roles. He also shared that because of the pandemic, things have gone digital and that is a helpful step. Explaining why, he remarked, “Earlier, only those who would come to Bombay would get cast. But since the pandemic we started doing online auditions. The number of shows I have done in the pandemic I haven’t done in my entire life. I have not met the actors, I have only seen them online. Coming to Bombay is not important anymore. Good actors can stay in their towns and survive”.
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