Kis Kone Se Vidya M La Lamba Ki Momma Dikhti Hai??
Why do we need casting directors?
Vidya Malavade as Minissha’s Mom has provoked this write up.
We need Casting Directors to translate the characters in a script to a plausible person behind the character. They should be instrumental in bringing on an actor who brings the character to substantial life with a correct set of behaviour and communication skills. In the Hollywood or Indian cinema context it is also necessary that he looks good too as cinema also doubles up as the best source of entertainment too.
But do we do justice to casting every time we make a movie here in India? Nope, we do not.
First, let me take examples of great casting coups (My opinions here) that went on to create milestones in art and commercial Indian cinema.
1. Paresh Rawal as Baburao in Hera Pheri
2. Amjad khan as Gabbar in Sholay
3. Amitabh as Babumoshai in Anand
4. Tabu in Chandni Bar
5. Manoj Bajpai as Bhikhu in Satya
6. Kamal Hassan in Swathimuthyam
7. Kamal Hassan in Nayakan
8. Sridevi in Mr. India
9. Sanjeev Kumar in Aandhi
10. Rekha in Umrao Jaan
I do think that these ten are tops in my list. Then, there are a lot of others that all of you may know and put up here for general consumption. But, you would not be able to pick up any other actor for the above mentioned, would you?
I now come to imperfect castings that has cost the said movie a lot.
1. Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Shakaal in Shaan
2. Jackie Shroff in Parinda
3. Abhishek Bachchan in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
4. ShahRukh Khan in KANK
5. Manoj Bajpai in Aks
6. Dharamendra in Batwaara
7. Vivek Oberoi in Home Delivery
8. Ajay Devgan in Yuva
9. Anil Kapoor in My Wife’s Murder
10. ShahRukh Khan in Dil se
There are other examples too but these pop up immediately and qualify as good examples just for the recall value.
These days, with smaller films coming into a lot of focus, the spotlight is o right casting. Some small films that have done well because of perfect casting:
My brother Nikhil, hazaron khwaishein aisi, Jhankaar Beats, Rock On, A Wednesday, Bheja Fry, Cheeni Kum, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Page 3, Khosla ka Ghosla, Jab we Met, Apaharan, Gangaajal, etc.
I will come back to the roles that Casting Directors play in making a successful film.
Do they internalise a script before homing on an actor?
Is it mostly the director who takes such decisions by doubling up as a Casting Director?
Is this a group activity?
Is it completely on the basis of ” he is good who is available and comes at the budget”?
Is it “Oh my God, just get someone fast as the schedule is approaching and we start filming”?
How was Gul Panag chose for Dor?
How was Dimple chose for Dil Chahta Hai?
How was Seema Biswas chosen for Phoolan Devi?
Many films now sport Casting Directors in their titles. I wonder what the art behind this is. Is there any sort of a work out during the script itself. I know John Mathen waited for months for Aamir to say “Yes” to Sarfarosh. I thought “U, Me aur Hum” was nicely casted. I thought Kosmic Konnection was badly casted. The best cast on the whole in modern Indian cinema according to me was “Arjun”. Everyone just fit their roles to a “T”.
Too many questions…and given the limited “actors” we have, the answers are finite too!!
Kay Kay as Riz???!!!!!!!!!
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I think ShahRukh Khan in KANK was perfect casting, poor direction. No one can pull off that kind of bitchy sardonic, almost enmasculated character better than SRK, IMO. But Kjo and uncontrolled hamming meant that a potentially good performance went down the drain.
i think ’sholay’ shud be mentioned as the greatest casting coup ever. every character is etched in the minds of the ppl. even a character who has a 1 line dialogue in the movie is well remembered.
i feel, these days casting is a matter of producer’s choice; whom he can afford. and sometimes its casting-couch where actors/actresses r randomly picked without any rhyme or reason, and audience feels sore says ouch; just like this post
a lot of times its abt returning favors; accept roles for the sake of it. watever, a bad casting hurts the movie more than anybody else
SRK in Dil Se was quite apt. The songs CC, AA and SR are kind of meant for him here; MK was a little over the top at times I felt. But the no-make up suits her to the T. The mindless chases to get MK - by getting hyper and emotional - SRK is adept at this.
The story was weak and it was made up by SRK, (MK too) the music, the cinematography and the fact it is a MR product. Drew in the crowds. I really liked the film for these things. It made up for the failure of having nothing much to narrate.
The notion of having any other actor in SRK’s place would have fallen flat.
ahuh.. i think DCH is best casted movie in recent times.. Akshay Khanna and Saif were nobodies when DCH came up. But they fit their roles perfectly, so much so Saif is casted in same role million times now.
and really i cant think of any one else than Dimple for tara.
@Arthi..really you do think SRK was rightly casted in that movie, an intense role made into a caricature..he, in my opinion, just did not get into the mind of the intensity and so the whole second half looked completely fake.
They say Madhavan is a copy of SRK, try picturising Maddy in that role, subtle, simmering Maddy!
@Jahan..just for a moment put Saif in there and then allow him to improvise, underplay the whole bit that much..not the usual YRF or KJo melodrama, but a classy Vidhu Vinod treatment…mind you Karan wrote a good movie..but execution????
“They say Madhavan is a copy of SRK, try picturising Maddy in that role, subtle, simmering Maddy!”
SRK himself is a copy of Rituraj, the little known tv actor and one of Barry Johns actors in New Delhi. Rituraj was a senior of khan in johns group. He was replaced by khan in one of johns productions and khan copied his act down to the last gesture.
There is a story, dont know whether if it is true that when rituraaj came to bombay from delhi to start his acting career, people started calling him a clone of shahrukh khan as khan had already established himself.
@ Indraneel - He gave the right amount of intensity as the role required. Because the role was the kind that just focused on him and the heroines - differnet locales, either singing dancing or running after them. Did you see those scenes where he gets beaten up? When he is all bloody and stammering , trembling and getting oh so hysterical. Thats vintage Shahrukh for you!! Not Mani Ratnam at all. He clearly wasn’t there.
His scenes as a journalist are pathetic because not of his acting but because the script was weak. The kind of seriousness and intensity wasn’t there because the character that MR created didn’t have that; unfortunately. Else SRK would have murdered that role.
I don’t believe that one day I’d write something about defending SRK’s performance in a film. He isnt an actor in the tru sense of the word but in Dil Se, I cant think of anyone else apart from SRK.
And yes, Madhavan does get into SRK mode many times.just like SRK tries to get into Kamal Hassan’s.
Maddy would have killed the role here.
Sorry, Indraneel, but bad execution aside, I can’t quite see anyone fit Dev Saran better than SRK.
@indraneel..i think u forgot that KANK is a Kjo film… directed in his signature over melodramatic style.
I agree with jahan…SRK saved teh day.
Give him a Shimit Amin and u will get a CHak De. GIve him a young Aziz Mirza u will get a Yes Boss and RAju BAn Gaya …Give him KJo u will get a monstrosity called KANK. I shudder to think what will happen in My name is Khan
In fact ‘underplaying’ it would ruin the character for me- he (Saran) is a total bitch, a drama queen almost. It didn’t require underplaying as such, but a more controlled and internalised performance that reined itself in at the right places.
I don’t think Karan wrote a good movie, but it was a progressive concept with unconventional, interesting lead characters which he couldn’t do justice to.
To me, Andaaz Apna Apna is one of the best casted movies in recent times… I used to avoid most of the leading cast’s films but when I watched AAA, I found everybody was almost perfact in the role and the Andaaz (s)he was given.. ..
Some pefectly cast roles…
AB-Vijay-Deewar
Ajay Devgan-Malik-Company
Mohanlal-Srinivasan-Company
Aishwarya-Jodha/Nandini-Jodha Akbar/HDDCS
Pawan Malhotra-Tiger Menon-Black friday
Pankaj Kapoor-Khatri-Blue Umbrella
IMHO, More than Sholay, Padosan is one movie which has a PERFECT cast. In fact every Kishore Kumar movie was a perfect cast
Half Ticket, et all.
Someone mentioned Anand.
I wonder how bad or good the cast would have been if Hrishikesh Mukherjee had tried with his choice of Kishore playing the role of Anand, eventually landing it to Rajesh Khanna. Films like Naukri , Bandi, Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein etc definitely let HM think about Kishore. But I must say that Rajesh Khanna got a role of a lifetime.
looking at the title, I wonder how the TV-Serial-Moms look like. They look like sisters of most of the heroines.
Adding some of my favourites to the list
Abhishek Bachchan-Lallan Singh-Yuva
Siddharth-Karan-RDB
Amrish Puri-Shambhu Nath-Ghatak
Sadhu Meher-Kishtaya-Ankur
The entire cast of Katha,which i gotta admit is brilliant especially the 2 protagonists of the movie Nasser and Farooq have normally been seen in roles that were the total opposite of their roles in this movie.
Anil Kapoor was a good casting for My Wife’s Murder and he turned in an excellent performance! AD in Yuva was not a bad casting either.
Yeah,actually i don’t get why Ajay Devgan’s mentioned here because his performance in the movie was impeccable,he had that charisma i’ve personally seen in all the student leaders i know.The only flaw was that he looked a tad old,but other than that,nothing else
@Vikram, yeah he looked old. But then he was an ex-student, so that sort of covered it up. A bit like Aamir in RDB
Saif Ali Khan in Ek Hasina Thi and Being Cyrus was a very good choice.Even the entire casting of Rock On,Dil Chahta Hai,Honeymoon Travels was well done.
Perhaps one of the best casting ever in Indian films was Jennifer Kapoor in 36 Chowringee Lane.No one else could have done justice to that role.
@kcp..I am not even venturing to talk about Kishoreda’s prowess at acting..he was a certified genius. None among the present generation of actors can even carry one scene of his movies.
@Ravi..you have got to tell me how you found Anil perfectly cast in My Wife’s Murder
@Vikram..Michael Mukherjee, Ajay’s character was a bengali student union leader (supposedly), tell me yourself as to whether he really matched the character, just apply some thought and logic!
@Pavan..I agree with you on Andaz apna apna.
@Anupama..KJo made this movie called KANK..he wrote this character and casted SRK..it turned out be a grossly fake character..you tell me if this was just a execution problem. Is there no casting issue here as from what I know, casting happens after the character is studied properly..
I’ll put it in another way..we are doing Shylock on stage and need to put up a Bollywood actor..we have Paresh Rawal and Boman Irani..who shall we give the character to?
Can I have the “Why” too..
@Anindya..Aparna Sen has always casted well. Even her latest, 15 Park Avenue is casted impeccably..but she is from a different film milieu
@Ravi..just the way you commented about Ajay’s role in Yuva speaks of a compromise!
While I am totally divided on whether SRK was the bane or boon of KANK I agree with you that he was very wrong for Dil Se. I remember constantly feeling the movie to be out of its depths whenever SRK appeared on the scene. The simple intensity of love that his character was supposed to have was lost with SRK’s signature acting, even though Mani Ratnam controlled his hamming. And while the vulnerability and helplessness was present, some other actor would have taken the character miles ahead.
And yes, about Ajay Devgan too. Apart from some select movies he is basically mis-cast in anything he does.
But why do you think Khulbhushan Kharbanda and Jackie Shroff were mis-cast? I think both fit in with what they were supposed to do not short-delivering anywhere. And I consider Parinda more of a Anil Kapoor-Nana Patekar story than Jackie’s? DO you see it differently?
@Fatema..Yipee..you agreed on some!
Let me first take Kulbhushan’s case..while he is a competent actor..Shaan required a larger than life act, something in that era could only be provided by a Danny or Amjad or Amrish Puri or even an Ajit..not Kulbhushan..so they had to invent that Dialogue delivery and that messed it up even more..I remember people used to actually laugh..otherwise the movie was generally quite good..
Then Jackie..this was the most important role in Parinda..the cause of all distress, essentially taking the story forward, the brother who stays back in India to earn for the brother having an education abroad, and circumstances forcing him to become the gangster..this was a well written role that had a lot of shades and only a very competent actor could have pulled it off. Jackie fell short by a mile. Many scenes, he had the same voice, same lingo, same body movements, same walk…whereas he had the biggest arc in the story in terms of moods and shades. So heart breaking it is to see such a powerful role go waste. So much so that you have not registered it at all!!
I would have taken an Amitabh or Mithun anyday (I know VVC approached Amitabh with this role)
@Indraneel … it was not a compromise for me! He looked old to be an ex-student, but i would give more importance to his acting in the movie than his looks. He was one of the few who could have pulled off what the role demanded in terms of performance.
I think Shakaal was more sophisticated than larger-than-life. He is savvy, sure of himself, not pompous or self-assured but totally menacing. And his evil is in his supreme confidence in himself. Now I obviously don’t know whether Shakaal was supposed to be all of those things but Khulbhushan Kharbanda brought these things on the table and acc to me, he is a success at being as sophisticated evil without looking foolish. A reason why people must’ve laughed because savvy Dons (not villians, those are many) like him were a rarity, actually I don’t remember any before him. Except of course, Loin. Who is a class apart anyday.
And yeah, about Parinda, what you say makes sense. No wonders I took Jackie to be just a worried, over-protective elder brother, something that he used to do in every movie of his those days. I don’t know about Amitabh, his subtlety is a little suspect in my eyes but Mithun yes. And if the film was made a few years later then even Govinda, but then I don’t know who’d suit playing his younger brother!
Talk about good casting. I think RDB was very well cast. Except maybe Aamir but then even he so graciously, for once stopped trying to be the be all and end all of the film that even his presence worked. I’ve heard Rakeysh Mehra had approached SRK and Hrithik and who all and what not for RDB, Banta dhaar ho jaata if they had said yes!
@Fatema..RDB was well cast in the end..who knows what went on during casting but SRK does not fit the student type anymore..I know SRK has it in him..but he has to et rid of those mannerisms to suit a bigger range than what he does these days..that said he did that spoof called OSO very well.
On Parinda, Amitabh would have done a far better job than what Jackie did under any circumstance. The problem is nobody governs his act..so he is prone to go overboard..Govinda, you are right and there would be a problem about his younger brother (maybe a younger Salman)..only other option in mainstream that comes to mind is Sanjay Dutt then. This was 1988 if I am right!
SRK is fab in comedies! I have loved every single comedy of his and hated every single romantic film of his. Actually its more like loved him more than the film and vice-versa!
But, I don’t know, everyone keeps saying things about how he is such a performer but choosing to limit himself…I’ve never bought that…as a star, as a Rahul/Raj yes, he has got his act together coz he is convincing, I must agree, its just that I dislike such men and characters, but even when he is trying something else, like Dil Se, Asoka or even Chak De, he is so always faltering…and I don’t think it’s coz there is no one to make him do the right thing (I know u said this about AB :)) but I think no one can really do anything about it coz he doesn’t really have it in him…
Case-in-point- Watch Raju Ban Gaya or Yes Boss closely. You love the character but do you take to SRK? Doesn’t a lot of his mannerisms, body language, the tonality, attitude strike as redundant, repetitive? I think the only time I loved him apart from his comedies was in Kabhi haan Kabhi na.
And why I said I am divided about KANK is coz I found everything about it, script, direction, and SRK insufferable so I am biassed and actually quite close-minded on it! Like totally made-up-my-mind to hate everything about the film types
@Fatema..actually both of us are on the same page when we talk of SRK as an actor..he is a sort of Rajnikant in hindi cinema..he can only be SRK in all his movies..take it or leave it..and so I do not associate him with any movie of substance..KANK was written well and in the hands of a good director and another cast would have done wonders..okay, let me bite the bullet here..
Saif in place of SRK
Sushmita in place of Preity
Tabu in place of Rani
Riteish in place of Abhishek
AB in place
Kirron Kher in place (or Rekha???)
It would have worked…
I thought Kulbhushan Kharbanda was actually very well cast for Shaan (i am fresh from a viewing Manorama
).
In fact, Shaan was right after Sholay (for Ramesh Sippy) and if they had gone with another Gabbar type personality (larger than life). In fact, I thought (as said by Fatema) he was totally able to portray that menacing thing by being subtle… kinda portraying that intelligent and psychotic (or rather calculated killer) thing instead of just a very powerful character. Besides i think the dialogue delivery wasnt really invented by the team of Shaan but probably a thing that KK came up on his own… coz he has followed a pretty similar (but impressive) dialogue delivery throughout his career…
Then Jackie Shroff… It reminds me of his (probably) best performance - Aar Ya Paar… And I thought it was a brilliant idea to cast Paresh Rawal and Jackie Shroff. Thought that Jackie portrayed that character very well…
oops… sorry. dint proof read it properly. some errors (1sst couple of lines). but you would understand, i hope
I am surprised at some obvious ommissions in the article and the comments:
SUPER CASTING
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na - Complete cast is just perfect.
Dhoom II - Who better than Hritik and Ash?
Jab We Met _ Shahid and Kareena are made for those roles.
Page 3 - Most of the actors were well-cast.
Omkaara - Saif Ali Khan
Vaastav, Naam, Sadak - Sanjay Dutt was born to do these roles
Yuva and Bluffmaster - Abhishek Bachchan
Junoon - Rahul Roy
Hum Aapke Hain Koun - Salmaan, Madhuri and Renuka
Maqbool - Pankaj Kapoor (Better-cast than even Irrfan Khan)
Suneil Shetty in One Two Three
POOR CASTING
Everyone in Anees Bazmi’s Deewanagi (Ajay, Urmila, Akshaye)
Boman Irani and Arjun Rampal In SRK’s DON
Boman Irani in Ekllavya
Johnny Lever in Asoka (Who thought of him? SRK?)
Fardeen Khan in Dev (Guess no one else wanted the role)and also in Jungle (Ditto)
Anil Kapoor and Manisha Koirala in Mann
Shakti Kapoor in Zubeidaa (Please, Benegal Saab !!)
Sameera Reddy in Musaafir
EVERYBODY in RGV Ki Aag (Waiting for someone to write a detailed analysis of what all has gone wrong with this film)
Pavan Malhotra in De Taali (See this film to belive what I am saying)
More examples please….!
rbehemoth @33 : I think Akshay Kumar in place of Jackie Shroff would have made Aar Ya Paar a better fil, even back in 1997, or whenever it was made..
I think Abhishek Bachhan is a total miscast for the role of Drona. Maybe the script was written with keeping in mind his eternal pissed-off expression, but this role would have been much better for someone younger. It looks silly when he talks with petals and cries over the mistreatment and you know in your mind that he is a mid-fucking-thirty guy.
@Sanjeev..Great, you have added to the listing..as I said, I have done my top 10..But these are nice additions..
@Sanjeev..I don’t agree that Boman was a wrong casting choice in “Don”..in fact he was perfectly cast..he was adept at the dual faced characterization
I think Jackie won the best actor (national ?) award for Parinda. He was good always in this vulnerable gangsta sort of roles. Consider Gardish.
Also, I think AD in Hulla Bol was a big miscast, he does not have a charimsa of on-screen superstar. I agree with Kulbushan Kharbanda as Shakal, he was trying to do a KN Singh in Shaan. Did not work for me. But I still dig Shaan.
Saif tried to play that cynical sorf of guy in Thoda Pyar Thoda magic, he could not do Pyar neither create Magic. So him as Dev Saran would not have worked. I think it was SRK all the way.
Yeah, the script let him down. Those farcical comedy scenes proved the undoing of the movie. Nobody can be as good as caustic and sarcastic SRK. You could see some shades in Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam. A lousy movie though.
For me, SRK worked big time in Dil Se.., remember that scene in desert after MK had written a couplet in sand and left. Or a night before that scene, when SRK talks about things he likes and dislikes or the climax when he is drugged but he ought to save MK, he worked for me. Dil se.., IMHO is highly underrated.
Regarding Yuva, I had the opportunity of catching the Tamil and Hindi versions back to back on the day of the release. After watching Surya, Maddy and Bharathiraja, I just could not accept Ajay Devgan, Abhishek and Om Puri. Rani was good, Esha was excellent and Kareena was better than Trisha.
I think Dil Se was one of SRK’s best performances. He was aptly cast; but I think the movie belonged to the NSD students, in terms of performances.
Watch the tamil version of Khosla ka Ghosla and you will know how bad casting can completely spoil a film. The movie is a hit in Tamil, mainly because it remains faithful to the original, but for us KKG fans, it is a big letdown!!
SRK in Dil Se in my opinion was perfect casting. It’s one of my favourite SRK movies.
Vishesh: One more Dil Se fan..great man..I totally agree with you..it is hugely underrated movie..there is one scene when SRK, on air, narrates the story of him meeting Manisha for the first time. What a scene, what a performance, how well Mani had used cinematic tools. Vintage man!
@35 Sanjeev I think Akshay Khanna did pretty well in Deewangi.Ajay Devgan even walked away with the Filmfare award for the role.The only miscast in Deewangi according to me was Urmila.And I think Shakti Kapoor did okay in the role of “dance master” in Zubeida.The rest as you have mentioned are okay.I think Irfan and Konkona were well casted in Life in a Metro.Amrish Puri was one of the very few actors who always made us feel that the role was written keeping him in mind.Case in point Ghatak,ghayal,Mr.India,Gardish,Virasat,Damini…He always added that extra bit to every role.Truly a great actor!!
@ 43:
Anand, how can i forget that scene, it was so amazingly terrific.
Or the scene when all the terrorist enter Delhi and they show through interleaved images as to what is their motive of coming to Delhi.
Even those scenes when Preity and SRK meet for the first few times, such natural conversation.
I still don’t know why Dil Se.. did not work, I want to believe it was ahead of its time
@Anand & Vishesh..Both of you are veering away from the Casting to the movie as a whole. I know Dil Se was a good movie. Other than the ending it was good work there. But, SRK was miscasted. It is not that he did not do well or is a bad actor, it is just that as the role had been written out, it needed somebody very intense, passionate, creative and glib. Yes, SRK is all this but he is also prone to a lot of mannerisms and that took away from the character and many of us went Oh No..not here again!! Precisely why the movie did not work. The Preity intro scenes work well because of her freshness not his!
@Anand..weren’t Surya and Maddy far better than their counterparts in Hindi? Aptly cast and well directed..also the feel for the language by Mani Ratnam came out visibly in Tamil and I think that was the core problem too in Hindi.
Yes Casting director is very important!! But again there there should be someone who will appoint the right casting director !!!
Just like Aamir Khand Productions did for Jane Tu Ya Jane Na.
Wife of Abbas Tyrewalla was the casting director. And she did a fantastic job in the movie, choosing Imran Khan and Genelia who was almost forgotten in Bollywood
Hi Indraneel,
You have touched upon one of the most absorbing, insightful and stimulating facets of the business of making films. Knowing the deepest shades of a character and then visualising an actor for that role, is a test of any director’s mettle.
It will be interesting if the director’s on PFC can tell us about their principles of casting (if any), using examples from their own films.
I thought Amitabh Bachchan in Khakee was great casting.
Akshay and Suneil (2 all-conquering, action heroes) as ordinary men in Hera Pheri was a great contrast and thus, superb thinking.
Urmila, with the going image of a soft-spoken, no-bitchiness simple girl, as the killer in Kaun was great.
Manoj Bajpai in Fareb (Pankaj Parasher) was pathetic. He didn’t have the city-slick flair ingrained in the role. Ditto for Ajay Devgan in Hall Bol.
Saif - with his natural, contemporary cool kept intact, but used negatively - was great in Ek Hasina Thi. Great thinking again.
@Arun..exactly my idea..directors are blinkered and see their story or script unidimensionally, most of the time have fixed an actor to the character in their minds, malleability is absent and when the choices are not found or gotten by the producer, they tend to lose track..precisely where a casting director steps in and gets the right actors from the the huge storehouse of talent that is India..at least it should be that way!
@Inca..even in school plays, I remember doing a whole lot of permutations and combinations before I used to get my actors in place..that demand shall never go away. I mean do we still go by… get SRK, Katrina daal do, woh actor kaun..bada chal gaya hai, lamba wala..Rock on mein tha..Arjun..haan wohi..usse le lo…also get Abhishek for special appearance..aur SRK ke ma ke liye Kirron ji ko le lo..bas Picture ban gaya..ab ek achcha sa script taiyyaar karo??!!!!!!!
Picture ka naam hoga..”Khan Gone??”
Yes, Indraneel,
This panwaadi-style casting is too prevalent in the industry, I suppose.
One approach I have heard about is to ‘cast against the grain’. Cast somebody in the role of a CEO (let’s say), who just doesn’t look like one. That itself brings freshness into the embodiment of the character. But it’s a huge judgement call on the director’s part. You can’t cast different just for the heck of it, else it might look silly. The actor essentially, should have it in him to essay the role.
Good directors also cast actors for a role who haven’t done anything like the part. That poses a challenge to the actor as the part looks new to him.
There could be some more ways to look at the concept of casting. It’s something that requires some real expertise.
@Inca..Casting should be treated as a separate vertical like Edit, Mixing, Sound, Music, Action, etc. It should be like HR in any other industry. The character sketches and the script should be at its door early enough to make the best choices. I know, leads are usually dealt with at the highest level but at least good choices are put on table by Casting. Jaane Tu or Omkara are successful solely because of the excellent cast.
Cast against the grain has happened before - Saif in Omkara, Dimple in Being Cyrus, Sanjay Dutt in Munnabhai MBBS, Shahid Kapur in Vivaah, etc.
This is a creative job, man..first convince yourself and the director, then the producer, then make the pitch to the actor you want, make it appealing enough, scour through portfolios and PR guys rif raff, then make those all important decisions and tie them all in.
Indraneel,
Sorry for digressing from the topic. My apologies.
I guess, IMHO SRK was the best fit for Dil Se.. but I will not force or try to convince you to agree with my POV
But is it possible that sometimes we do tend to be over critical of a person and hence we are more prone to observe “mannerisms” in that person as compared to some other person who also has a set of traits or mannerism.
hey i think devgan sahab was not at all a bad choice in yuva yaar… in fact if you compare between maddy and abhi, i think maddy did a much better job in the original version of the same film. what say?
46 Indraneel - 53 Vishesh: To each his own, I guess. I think it was one of SRK’s best performances. By the way, whats wrong in digressing? it always adds colour to your post
Indraneel - regarding Surya and Maddy being better than their counterparts in Hindi, thats what I tried to say, hence we are on the same page there. I think Aiydha ezhuthu was a better film than Yuva because of the following reasons:
1. The director’s lack of command over the language
2. The director’s knowledge of the Chennai culture, milieu and geography - Obviously he did not have that knowledge about Kolkata
3. The brief given to the actors by the director was different in Hindi and Tamil. If you notice, actors in Tamil underplayed their role, whereas in Hindi, they acted more “bollywood’ style. It worked to a great extent in the case of Kareena, it did not make a difference in case of Esha, Rani and Vivek, but it affected the rest of the performances.
4. Of course, the cast. Ajay as a student?? Om Puri as a Bengal politician?? Watch Bharathiraja’s first confrontation with Surya and you will undertand the potential of the scene, it was plain and dull in Hindi.
No offense,but I personally felt that Abhishek left Maddy miles behind in Yuva,i know Tamil as well as Hindi and i’ve lived in TN for sometime too,so i gotta admit,Abhishek had that perfect look of a ruffian,but Maddy ruined it everytime he smiled coz he has the smile of a child….
Bluffmaster is another choice i agree with,Abhishek was awesome in the movie,especially coz he was just being himself.
I’d like to add to the list of miscast roles
Shiney Ahuja in Life in a metro and Khoya Khoya Chand,i personally hated him in these 2 movies(Don’t whack me for this one guys)
Zayed Khan in Mission Istanbul-How on earth can u cast such an effeminate looking guy in an action movie
Ash in Kuch Na Kaho - Ash as a mom…..Nooooooooooooooooooo
@ vikram
i agreee with u on Bluffmaster, Yuva and Kuch na Kaho..
a very underrated movie with brilliant casting is
Chameli Ki Shaadi
everyone from Om prakash to Amjad Khan suited the role to the T..
its a fantastic movie…..
other well cast movies are….
MunnaBhai MBBS( Thank God Srk declined it)
Sarkar
Daud
Nadiya ke Paar( People couldnt believe that Sachin is a maharashtrian)
Certain actors like Mehmood and Amrish Puri make the characters their own..Its difficult to imagine anyone else in their place..so they ultimately make the character well cast.
“Saif in place of SRK
Sushmita in place of Preity
Tabu in place of Rani
Riteish in place of Abhishek
AB in place”
With all due respect, Indraneel, I think this is a recipe for an even bigger disaster than KANK, if that is possible. I still stand by the casting in KANK, especially SRK’s- the role is tailor made for him. Rest of the roles I can still think of other people, but Dev Saran HAS to be SRK IMHO.
Just imagine how all these people would look together in KANK… to me, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture at all.
Vikram I agree with you on Chameli ki Shaadi.It was hilarious.Pankaj Kapoor,Amrita Singh specially were very well casted.Another film you reminded me was Golmaal(Old one).Both Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt were casted well.Other well casted movies
Choti si baat
Chandni Bar
Khakee
Ghatak
Shool
Among the forthcoming films I somehow feel(I hope I am right) Dostana(Abhishek Bachchan,Priyanka) is casted well.Though we will not know unless we see the film the promos give me that vibe.
Also, it’s just my opinion, but I really liked Anil Kapoor in My Wife’s Murder- he was perfect, and AB in JBJ wasn’t half bad either… but just wondering, even if for whatever reason you consider them miscast, isn’t it too much to say that they cost the film a lot? I mean surely there are FAR worse cases of miscasting…
@ jahan
Anil Kapoor gave a very good performance in My Wife’s Murder indeed. He underplayed his character very well….
JBJ i would always hate because the movie wasted a fantastic music score….
i also think Abhishek in KANK was a better choice compared to Ritesh.
Infact he was really good in the movie.
To add in the list of perfect casting . .
Dev Anand .. Guide
and an example from Bangla Fill ANURANAN
Rahul Bose
and
Rajat Kapor
As always a technical post on the merit of a job in movie has been turned into tirade as to how mainstream cinema is run by set of buffoons and how the alternate and intelligent people in this blog can see through the whole process and a set of people actually giving credence to such rant and refuting it. I am sorry if my intellect as always has deserted me , are we not supposed to discuss the perils of not having a perfect cast and not the merits of what we think was the right cast and what was ridiculous. How are we different from the cronies of producers who decides who plays what based on intuition or a ulterior motive. If we could have some of the guys from the industry tell us how the damn process works may be the comment section would make more sense
oik so what abt govinda in the next mani ratnam movie..u think mani saar has got it rong this time arnd after changin his muse frm maddy to ab jnr.?
Karthik..As always you have put it very mildly and subtly without trying to hurt anyone in the process!! I think it comes naturally to you!!
Karthik..when I wrote the above comment, my friend told me that you will not get the sarcasm in the above comment..but I told him that you are a genius and you will definitely get it!!
This is not apna KK Kartik Krishnan, right? Doessn’t sound like him- too much english
Guys..peace..we should get back to the original discussion about understanding the character in the script, fixing a few choices of actors and then closing on one actor who should fit the role to a “T”..this is not so easy..directors will vouch for it..given the circumstances in Indian cinema..there have been some well casted movies as mentioned earlier in the comments section..
But lets just have ways and means of envigorating this vertical within the making of the whole movie.
Here, In a way, Kartik Krishnan is actually right. We need to have directors sharing with us as to how they think and do..otherwise, it would just be sharing of some choices..agreements and disagreements!!
@Anand pat your friends back ” I DID NOT GET IT”
And Jahan is right too, I am not the same KK , I am “Thik” he is “Tik”. But the “Too much English” did hurt buddy !!!
and finally World peace
Zayed Khan and Fardeen Khan are misfits in almost 90% of films they do.
Anyway, to me, Bheja Fry & Mithya were also well casted. Though, some dilemma over Naseer’s part in Mithya, but…works for me! Also, “HKA”
I feel the only actor who was never mis-casted was kamal haasan. And this is just because that the hard work and pain he takes to get into the skin of the character , you feel the character more every time you see him on screen. he can be appu, he can be chachi and also he can be an indian. I rarely see him as Kamal on screen. Amazing actor…
@Karthik: Hey, that was directed at apna KK… he always says that about baradwaj Rangan’s reviews- “too much english for me”!
So don’t feel hurt…
@Prashant N (73), I havent seen Pyasa Shaitan… but it is by Joginder (of Ranga Khush etc fame) and stars Kamal… Would like to know about that though (any idea about this movie - Indraneel or anybody?) or maybe i need to ask about this movie on the torture series…
oh btw I am a huge KH fan as well…
@Kapil - that’s a great insight! I never thought of this before, but now that you mention it, I can see how spot on this is. Of course SRK sounds exactly like Rituraj, and they were both Barry John’s students.
And Rituraj and SRK were both cast in “In Which Annie Gives it to Those Ones” and that’s the only film I’ve ever seen where SRK sounds very un-SRK like. Perhaps that was before he started to clone himself on Rituraj?
@Vishesh - Props for mentioning KN Singh. The man who epitomised the suave villian. Brilliant actor.
rbehemoth @75, I have seen PYASA SHAITAN and believe me, Kamalhasan is well-cast in that too…!!!! (Though Joginder fits his role better!!)
Is pyasa shaitan the same movie with a song like this…
” naach uthi hai aaj fiza..chand hua hai aaj naya…”
Suprising we have missed Rekha and Naseer in Ijaazat! I really dont think, anyone else could have potrayed the entire range of emotions better than them.
What about the B&W classics?
Guru Dutt ….. Pyaasa
Raj Kapoor ….. Jaagte raho (even in Sangam)
and i think the best Casting coup ever was
“Prithvi Raj Kapoor” in Mughal-e-Aazam!!
@ shreyansh - Very true about Ijazaat. I felt ven Anuradha Patel was apt for her role. She completed the lead triad in this film…..
@arthi- ya u r right about miss patel, she played the role of an instinctive girl in her mid 20s to the perfection.
Ijaazat i find is one of the better movies ever made, considering the maturity and the deep understanding of the human emotions potrayed by the the 3 main charachets. Apart from Arth, very few movies have tried to sucessfully bring out the complexity, pain, anguish, feeling of insecurity, jelousness in a 3 way love story.
Only the producer or his friends may know. I thought she is Mimisha’s step mother. Creative Imagination ? Ha Ha Ha.