Suhana Khan and Khushi Kapoor in The Archies.When the first announcement video of director Zoya Akhtar’s upcoming projectThe Archie dropped on the internet a few months ago, the film industry was once again accused of favouring star kids over outsiders, as the film features Suhana Khan (daughter of Shah Rukh Khan), Khushi Kapoor (daughter of late Sridevi) and Agastya Nanda (grandson of Amitabh Bachchan). The casting drew some criticism, and now, the film’s casting director Nandini Shrikent has said that each actor was auditioned multiple times before they were brought on board.
Nandini told The Quint, “Any industry you look at, the next generation takes over. If someone fits the role, they deserve the opportunity because they fit the role. It’s not like we’ve just gone and cast someone because they’re a star kid. Each one is very specifically, super-perfect for the role they’ve been cast in.” She added that “a proper casting process” was followed and they even auditioned many other aspiring actors for these parts.
“We tested many people for the roles. We didn’t just go over with these roles on a platter to the three star kids and say ‘Here they are!’ A lot of people tested for various roles and then this fell in place,” she said.
Casting director-actor Abhishek Banerjee, who was also a part of this conversation, said that in a few cases producers or filmmakers can’t trust someone they don’t know, and thus end up casting someone who is a star kid. “Sometimes you might not know an actor or it’s possible that you cant trust whether he’ll do a good job on set, whether he’ll understand the set, how to be around ADs, how to be around the crew. Versus a guy or girl who comes from a filmy background and you automatically know that they’re well versed. Even that star kid, they will also learn through the process. Once they are on the set, they will have to learn,” he said.
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Nandini also said that there is no “arm twisting” at play and they are not forced to cast star-kids, although once in a while, for a small role, they are expected to make some adjustments. The Archies, directed by Zoya Akhtar, is a Netflix project that also stars Mihir Ahuja, Vedang Raina and Yuvraj Menda and Dot.
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