I like to know the director's world, says filmmaker Mukesh Chhabra

Mukesh Chhabra, 42, is, arguably, one of the most influential person in Indian cinema. The man who ‘discovered’ Rajkumar Rao (Shahid, Trapped), Sushant Singh Rajput (Kai Po Che), Sanya Malhotra , Fatima Sana Shaikh (Dangal), Pratik Gandhi (Scam 1992) has now cast for over 300 films and almost 90 OTT series. The founder of Mukesh Chhabra Casting Company is also the director Dil Bechara (2020), curator of Khidkiyaan, a 5-day theatre festival held every year in Mumbai for three years. He is along with Neha Singh, co-author of Moongphali a book of short stories for children. Vanita Kohli-Khandekar spoke to him about the role of casting in the cinema ecosystem. Edited excerpts. 

 

You trained as an actor from the Sri Ram centre for Performing Arts in Delhi. How did you become a casting director?
 

I was working for NSD’s TIE (Theatre in Education) company for almost 9 years. It was an acting and teaching job with children. While there I was there was helping filmmakers who wanted to cast kids in films. Then I came Mumbai and in 2004-05 and helped Rakeysh Mehra with the casting for Rang De Basanti. I worked with Richie Mehta for casting Amal (2007), Imtiaz Ali on Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Nitesh Tewari and Vikas Bahl for Chillar Party (2011). Then (Anurag Kashyap’s) Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) happened. That was 384 actors and 18 months. That is when people noticed the casting and pushed me to do it professionally. That is when I formed the company in 2013-14. We have done more than 300 films, 90 OTT shows and about 6,000-7,000 ads.  We have a staff of 90 people currently and do 60 per cent of the films and shows made.

 

How is casting for a film different from an OTT show?
 

They are largely the same. Only in an OTT show there is no pressure of finding a known face. We cast Delhi Crime (India’s only International Emmy award winning show), Scam 1992, Faadu, Maharani among others. An OTT show is a lot of work. It is 8-10 episodes a season or like 3 feature films.

 

What is your process?
 

We get the script one year before the show or film is to release. (I never watch a show or a film I have cast for!) We sit with the director, he briefs us. I like to know what is his world. For example Delhi Crime had to be as real as possible. And then I make notes after which we start the search. If the film/show is set in Bihar we get the cast from Bihar, if it is set in Gujarat we get Gujarati actors. For Delhi Crime we cast people from Delhi. For Dangal (2016) we wanted the young Sanya Malhotra to look like the older one. (Dangal India’s largest grossing film ever is acknowledged as a masterpiece in casting terms. It is the real-life story of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat’s struggle to get his daughters accepted as wrestlers). If I am convinced about a character I take a stance. For example I wanted Pankaj Tripathi as Sultan in Wasseypur and fought with Kashyap about it.

 

What are the pressures of casting for a film?
 

If it already has a big star then the rest of the cast becomes critical. In Dangal, Aamir Khan was already there. Therefore the girls (who play Phogat’s daughters) were important. In Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) because Salman Khan was already there, Munni was important. More than 8,000 kids auditioned for that role before we found Harshaali Malhotra. For the Chhota Bheem film we auditioned 3,000 kids.

 

How do you find the people?

Anybody can walk in here from 11 am to 3 pm and leave their name, number, their language of comfort and a video. Earlier we allowed walk-ins till 6 pm but it became too much. We used to get 4,000-5,000 people turning up. There were complaints from the buildings around us. Now we have about four lakh people on our database which on this big server in our office (points to it).

 

What are the challenges to casting in India?

Earlier people would think, ‘what is casting.’ Anurag (Kashyap), Sudhir (Mishra), Nitesh (Tewari), Tigmanshu (Dhulia) understood that casting is very important. There is the writer, producer, director. But the first part is hiring a casting director. The language a person speaks in is important. We found people from Lucknow where they speak excellent Urdu, Delhi which has a tradition of theatre. And from Madhya Pradesh which has good actors. We want to open offices in other states – in the North East, Gujarat, Goa.

 

You have cast for some foreign projects also, how has that experience been different?
 

We have done Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna (2011) and Hansal Mehta’s The Buckingham Murders (2023) and I am a member of the Casting Society of America (CSA). The West is ahead of us. Every actor still auditions. Here after a few films actors don’t want to audition. I always tell them the audition is not for judging your talent but your fit for the character. We auditioned Shefali (Shah) for Delhi Crime. We make them (actors) do a range of emotions – happy, sad, emotional and get to see their range. The audition has nothing to do with whether you are a known or unknown actor.

 

Is there a lot of pressures to cast this person or that?

A lot of people want work and there is limited work. There are so many actors and so many hopes. I feel very sad and low. There are so many reference calls.

 

But it is also a powerful position to be in..
 

If you take it seriously it could go to your head and you could misuse it.

 

How do you scale up in this business?
 

We are looking for an investor. Also we are in the process of launching an app (Just Act) for new actors next year. Everyone can’t come to Mumbai for an audition. The app will help them upload their video from wherever they are in the world. It has masterclasses, audition tips and all the stuff that I say in my workshops. My workshops are about how to make your struggle more positive, the right process for audition etc. I do two batches of 60 people each twice a year here. (Chhabra also does workshops in other parts of India and the world) Also I want to open more workshop areas and spaces for the craft.