We Asked Two Actors What THEY Think Casting Directors Do
You have to talk to actors to really get what casting is about. So we did.
Casting Directors are some of the most powerful people in Bollywood. On the one hand, they can turn an unknown person into the most sought after celebrity in the country. On the other, if they pick the perfect cast, they can turn a production’s fortunes entirely. This unique creative contribution is dawning upon everybody from production houses, to directors, to actors. Every top production house worth its salt already has a dedicated casting team, and even smaller, digital production houses are setting their own operations up.
What goes behind the curtain though - what is really happens in these long and numerous auditions? And what happens after these auditions? To appreciate and understand casting as a profession it’s so important to hear from the actors who go through the rigorous processes along with our casting directors. And we scouted for people who could share their experiences with us.
In conversation with Dhwani Vij and Surbhi Dhyani, 2 actors from different fields, we attempted to peek inside this complicated and wondrous world of acting. Dhwani is a theatre artist and practitioner who has acted, directed and developed theatrical pieces. She started her journey in 2011. Surbhi is an actor/ dancer in Bollywood who has been a part of various TVCs, Youtube videos and short films and started off about a year and a half back.
Castiko: Tell us a little about your experiences with the auditioning processes for a role.
Dhwani: I remember the first audition process I went through, lasted about 2 days, where everybody was given ample opportunities and rounds to finally land a place in a play. Most of the auditions that I have been through, last for a few days and they really grill you. This process can also get REALLY stressful for the people who are auditioning (actors) because they don’t really know what is going on, they don’t know what exactly do the people on the other side want. But being on the other side also is not easy, sometimes you find a gem of an actor but due to various other complications like scheduling or maybe because the rest of the team has a certain quality and this person does not have that quality, you don’t end up working with that person. The people conducting the auditions have these parameters in their heads which are often not shared with the people auditioning. So the power is really skewed. And the people who are auditioning most of the times are really stressed and are kept hanging about situations. In the Delhi theater circuit what has started to happen is that the audition process has become workshop based, and it has become a more collective process.
The people conducting the auditions have these parameters in their heads which are often not shared with the people auditioning… most of the times they are really stressed and are kept hanging about situations.
Surbhi: I give about 2–3 auditions every day. In Bombay there are so many things, if you’re auditioning for an ad, it’s mostly your “looks” that matter, it is not so much about your acting, which is why if you’re selected for a TVC, you’re called a model and not an actor. For films or short films or Youtube videos, most times it is your acting works; your looks of course matter but mostly it’s about acting. A lot of times what happens is that the actors are already fixed, they say they want fresh faces and new actors but when you go for the audition you find out they’ve already fixed the actor. I don’t know why that happens but it’s very stressful for the actors. The auditions can carry on for more than even 10 days if they don’t find the perfect match for the character. A lot of times the script changes and their requirements change. And you just don’t know what the client wants. It does get very stressful.
A lot of times what happens is that the actors are already fixed, they say they want fresh faces and new actors but when you go for the audition you find out they’ve already fixed the actor.
C: What do you think is the role of a casting director?
D: I don’t know as such. A couple of people around me have tried their hands at it or have assisted casting directors. In film, I think it’s mostly about how that person looks, because camera is so much about how you look. And I don’t mean that in a judgmental sort of a way but also because the character looks a certain way and that becomes very important for the camera but not so much in theater. I feel the primary job of a casting director is to find individuals for these characters.
S: Their job I feel is to pick up people who fit the role of the character and these individuals are then taken to the director and whoever the director picks gets to be in the film. So that’s how casting became a profession. You need to find the right people. This is now being carried forward, and a lot of casting directors have come up now.
C: What do you think is the scope of casting in the future and how is it beneficial to actors?
D: The industry is growing at this insane rate and any person who becomes this bridge between the actor fraternity and the ‘technical’ fraternity is going to be a boon to both sides I feel. It is not possible for an individual to know what all is happening project wise in the world, but an agency whose primary job is just to do this, I think any specialisation in any kind of field always helps as it adds details to that field which earlier wasn’t so obvious. We have seen what happens when casting is given that time and patience, we get actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui because of such a process. Casting is the best thing that can happen to actors.
The industry is growing at this insane rate and any person who becomes this bridge between the actor fraternity and the ‘technical’ fraternity is going to be a boon to both sides I feel.
S: I think casting as a profession has a lot of scope. It is very new and has a long way to go. It was started by Mukesh Chhabra, at least that title came from him, casting was there earlier as well but there was no specific tag. I feel it’s a profession that is needed, because what generally happens is that directors prefer to work with people who they have worked with in the past. And hence, they’re reluctant to cast new people. It becomes difficult for freshers and new people like me to get noticed. And in this manner casting directors play a HUGE role in recognising new talent.
