Casting Director Sanjeev Maurya on Actors Being Selected Based on Social Media Following, 'Had to Drop...' | Exclusive

Casting director Sanjeev Maurya has been receiving praise for the remarkable ensemble he has put together in the latest series such as CLASS and Trial By Fire. Maurya has some more notable works to his name, such as The White Tiger, A Suitable Boy, Gulmohar and Angry Indian Goddesses. Amid the success of the recently released series, News18 caught up with him for an exclusive chat where he walked us through the process of casting, among many other things.

Excerpts:

Take us through the process of casting.

There is a simple process we follow. We get the script, read it and then discuss the characters with the director. We tell them about the vision we have and they tell us what they have imagined for the character. We form a character sketch and then list actors who would fit the character. Then, the material or brief is sent to them for an audition. If we are doing a project for OTT then we have to send it to them and if it is for an independent film, it is the director’s call.

What do you look for in an actor while selecting them?

It depends on the script. I have worked on several stories based on real life. If my actor makes me believe that they fit the character then 50-60 per cent of my job is done there. Whenever I audition anyone, I follow a pattern. Generally, a script is sent to them with dialogues and a scene during auditions. But that blocks an actor and they get uncomfortable. They know that they have to say those certain lines which are written so they might get uneasy about that. In my case, I always tell my actors that they can improvise and go beyond what is written in the script. This puts the actors in their comfort zone and they enjoy the process as well.

Trial By Fire is based on a true story. Was the casting process different?

Yes, the process is very different. We have to be very careful because it is based on a real-life incident and some of the characters are alive. There is a lot of research work that goes behind it to make it as authentic as possible. For Trial By Fire, we did not have a script with dialogues for the actors. We gave them a situation and briefed them about the character. When they came for the auditions, we used to ask them to start and my team pretended to be their co-actors and converse with them. This way, we improvised a scene which came out to be great and the actors had the freedom to show their creativity and bring forward their imagination.

Recently, actress Shriya Pilgaokar tweeted something about actors getting selected based on their social media following and Swastika Mukherjee agreed to that as well.

What you are saying is correct and I am completely against it. I had a similar discussion with an OTT platform recently while I was casting for them. I had cast someone and my director and producer were on the same page as me. She was the perfect one for the character but we had to drop her because the platform said they want an actor who has about 5 million followers on social media. I was really upset with it because if the platform makes such decisions then what is the job of a casting director?

But I have been lucky that, except for this situation, I have never faced anything like that in the rest of my projects. There are several directors who put their foot down and say they want to go with good actors and not social media following. However, I don’t blame them because the people who come up with these requests are generally marketing heads and they have their reasons. They are correct in their position and we are in ours.

Is this only a marketing issue then? More popular the face, more popular is the character.

Three years back I was having a conversation with a French director who was working on an indie film. He said that he wanted to take a certain influencer for his film and I questioned his decision. So he made an interesting point. He said that he is making an independent film and the influencer has around 8 million followers, so this means his film has a chance of getting 8 million views. Everyone has a different thought process. He was a first-time filmmaker with no producer or banner associated with him so his thought process was correct in that context. It was the easiest way for his film to reach the audience.

But for me, casting is about making the film look good and not about who has how many followers.

We can’t have a conversation about casting without addressing the topic of the casting couch.

I have not witnessed it in any of the projects I worked on so far. Such an incident never occurred in front of me. There are friends of mine who work in the creative field as well but neither they nor I have ever encountered something like this. It also depends on the person you are working with.

There is also a perception that established insiders or star kids have the audition process easy for them compared to newcomers.

I don’t agree with this because whichever project I have worked on, I have worked with a first-timer. They are not star kids and aren’t related to the industry in any way. Whenever I get a script, I always try to find a new face for it. Then, if I feel that there is already an actor in the industry who will fit the part, I approach them. But I always try to find new talents. The best thing about the projects I have worked on is that even if someone is a star kid, they have auditioned for it. No one has ever said no to me in all these years.

Out of the actors working in the industry right now, who do you think is the most promising?

Take Rajshri Deshpande for example. Eight years ago, I met her during the shoot of Angry Indian Goddesses and always knew she has potential. I met her again after 2-3 years and told her that I’d like to work with her again, as soon as I have a suitable script. And that happened during Trial By Fire. We liked her during the first round of the audition but she was even better prepared for the second round. That growth was visible in her. She also agreed to put on weight for the character. Certain actresses are a little scared to do so and we were clear that we don’t want to use a body suit for the character.

Actors should always believe in the character. I went down South to approach an actor for the lead role which is of the father but he rejected saying he does only roles of heroes. It was beyond my understanding why an actor would say no to a character but he reasoned that it will spoil his ‘hero’ image. However, I thought it was fair enough because different people have different thought processes.

Is this kind of attitude still prevalent among actors?

Not much. A couple of days I met an actress who is around 19-20 years and offered her the role of a young mother. She agreed to do it. Some actors are trying to build their image graph so they say no. But when I approach an actor with a character, I do it because I have seen something in them. They should trust their casting directors because we approach them for a reason.

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