Casting their spell

Casting directors are finally gaining the recognition they deserve for spotting talents such as Monica Dogra of Dhobi Ghat,Pitobash Tripathy of Shor In The City and Vivaan Shah in 7 Khoon Maaf. Many newcomers even choose to dedicate the popularity they gain to the casting directors who picked them.

“I am glad the role of a casting director has evolved to become a full-fledged career now,” says Sharma,who is now employed with Yash Raj Films. Casting directors such as Amita Sehgal and Nandini Shrikent have become quite well-known names in the industry.

The concept was introduced by Indo-Western production houses such as the Merchant Ivory Productions. Over the years,films such as Salaam Bombay,Bandit Queen and Monsoon Wedding proved that there is talent beyond the obvious names and that a good cast can help take the weight off the primary characters. However,the relevance was lost to the industry,which would instead depend on connections and recommendations to cast for the roles. Filmmakers like Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Sanjay Leela Bhansali did bring the trend into mainstream cinema with successes like Rang De Basanti and Black but,even five years ago,not many considered the task of “casting” as a specialisation. The fame that Loveleen Tandon’s work in Danny Boyle’s Academy award-winning Slumdog Millionaire garnered,however,changed much for the profession.

“Back in my early days,I had to fight my way through and ask the directors to first show me the script before I got them the actors,” recounts Sharma,talking of the disorganised state of industry then. After Sudhir Mishra’s Khoya Khoya Chand,her first big assignment,she worked with Dharma Productions,casting for the secondary characters for Kurbaan and My Name is Khan,before her full-time appointment with YRF in Band Baaja Baarat.

However,there are other production houses such as Excel Entertainment which have relied on the expertise of casting directors since their very first film. “The profession is much more organised now with the corporatisation of the industry since procedures like casting are paid equal attention to,” believes Shrikent,whose first assignment for Excel was Lakshya. Still,the top slots of big budget films or films by established filmmakers are mostly filled up by their favourite actors and without auditions.

Many new directors see it as an easier way of getting the job done as it is too cumbersome to meet hundreds of candidates to fill half a dozen roles. “The change can be attributed to the new band of filmmakers,who are not dependent on mega-stars. Their lack of access to the stars adds to this trend,” says Vicky Sidana,who works closely with Rajshri Productions and Atul Agnihotri Productions and has been commended for his recent assignment,Pyaar Ka Punchnama.

Contrary to perception,the job of a casting director goes beyond picking the best faces from the auditions. Shrikent works closely with the director to understand the script and the characters before sending in requests portfolios from talent managers.

“We audition or do readings with most actors,” explains Shrikent,“But there are times when we call the already established talents and share the role with them.”

Sidana prefers to travel across the country to hunt for the “right talent” though the initial scouting also happens over social networking websites like Facebook. He is currently in Patiala for the Salman-Khan starrer,Bodyguard.

While the biggest challenge of the job is always to get the casting right,in Sharma’s opinion the hype around a certain film can make the task much tougher. Kiran Rao had admitted to it while casting Dogra. Currently,Sharma feels under constant scrutiny with Dhoom 3 as her ongoing assignment. “The toughest casting now for me would be to cast the Dhoom 3 lead actress,” she sighs,“But I take every challenge in the right spirit.”