The young and enthusiastic Ankita Bajaj is happy being a Casting Director who has it in her to tap new talent and put them in the place they belong to!! From being clueless about what she wants in her career, Ankita has discovered that the line of casting and filmmaking is where her passion lies!!
Ankita has cast for films The Lift Boy, Loveshhuda, and for recent web series Chattis aur Maina, and Ankahi Ansuni.
In a candid exclusive interview with IWMBuzz.com, Ankita Bajaj talks of her journey as Casting Director.
Excerpts:
How has your journey been as Casting Director?
I was working as an AD after my post-graduation but didn’t like it much. I explored more and gave an interview for a casting assistant job. I didn’t know much about the process but by the third day, I knew, this is what I want to do in filmmaking.
How was your start and how has the road traversed been till now?
I started as a Casting Assistant at Maddock Films, assisting Nandini Srikent. After almost a year, I started taking up smaller projects as a freelancer for almost two years, but things were really difficult. I would be out of work for months or get one job in two months, barely enough to meet ends. But it got a little better after every project. And I look back proudly and happily for being where I am today.
You have cast for films, ads and web. Tell us about the experience.
I feel it’s a different experience for each format. When it’s a long format like a film/series, it gives us time to explore more, experiment around, but when it comes to ads, you have a deadline of 2-7 days. I have cast a day before too for few ads. It gets very crazy. But both formats are wonderful in their own ways.
Being a female casting director, is the going a bit tough especially in the field of casting?
Thankfully I never experienced that. I have had the opportunity to work with good Producers and Directors. I hope it remains the same.
What is your forte when it comes to casting?
Finding new talents and experimenting around with real people.
I understand my Director’s vision and am very open to experimenting around as well. Like for “The Lift Boy” I actually found the female lead Nyla Masood in a mall. She was coming out of a late-night movie show and I was having something in a restaurant and she just caught my eye and I felt she is my Maureen D Souza. I actually followed her for some time in the mall observing her gait and communication skills and then approached her. Later, she told me she is a costume stylist. That moment, I knew, she would kill it as she already would be aware of the process of casting and shooting etc.
Even for a music video, Udd Gaye by Ritviz, Reema (director) wanted old men who could dance and know beats. So we reached out to older men who used to do background dancing in the 80s.
Do you think more prominence is given to looks and social media status these days in casting?
I wouldn’t use the word more, but yes social media is becoming a great part of our lives. So it definitely has prominence and especially if it’s your first gig as an actor for any project, your social media presence might help you for being a better pitch.
As for looks, every character has a different look, and Directors these days are pretty open to trying around. So we are no more limited to stereotypical hero/heroine looks.
What are the basic criteria you look for in an actor?
Their understanding of the script and the character and their drive to give it their best. That’s enough!
How important is it for getting the cast right?
Very…if your casting is wrong, the soul of the script goes away. If your script depicts a character being brave or serious or just plain optimistic, for every kind of trait, while auditioning, we have to make sure the actor can do justice to the character, to the dialogues and emote accordingly.
When it comes to tapping new talent how do you work your way?
These days, social media helps a lot. When I was an assistant, we had to do lots of street casting, which we still have to do at times, but very rarely.
Now, you can put a post and it helps a lot in getting responses. Other than that we have to be creative too in finding talent like if we (me and my team) watch a play, we definitely meet the cast post it. And if we go to a film festival (which is not happening these days) we meet lots of actors there. Sometimes from some short films or content online, we pick a few. There are lots of actors who share their profiles on our mail id and many times, that helps a lot too.
Tell us about your recent work?
Recently I worked on two mini web series for Hotstar – Chattis aur Maina and Ankahi Ansuni, both releasing on Disney Plus Hotstar Quix.
Both are of different genres and were fun to work on. For Chattis aur Maina, we wanted a good dancer and hence reached out to Sandeepa Dhar after I saw her dance videos online. Deepak Qazir was an interesting cast for the strict father, suggested by Mitu, showrunner on the show. As we haven’t seen him on web, so Mitu and I were very keen on testing him for the same. And once we tested him, he was perfect!
For Ankahi Ansuni, we had locked Paresh very soon but for others it took time.
Like for Madhuri, we had to work a lot. I had cast Vibha in ads and really like her as an actor. But when I read the character of Madhuri, I could not see her as the part, but I called her anyway and tried her for this as well as some other part. And after her audition, we just knew she is our Madhuri.
What are your ultimate goals?
To do good films with good Directors, and to deliver the best talents for each and every character, pretty much what every casting director would want.