HT Horizon) Updated On: Apr 6, 2010 Shiksha Externalauthors 126 Views Mukesh Chhabra, 28, Never Had to Give Much Thought to What He Wanted to Do in Life
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Role call (HT Horizon) Updated on: Apr 6, 2010 Shiksha ExternalAuthors 126 Views Mukesh Chhabra, 28, never had to give much thought to what he wanted to do in life. Way back in school he had made up his mind to pursue the love of his life — theatre. Though a graduation from Delhi University was “barely managed”, he was more serious about the diploma in acting that he was pursuing at the National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi. Chhabra did a six-and-a-half-year stint with the Theatre- in-Education at the NSD. He conducted children’s workshops and cast them for ad films. His first break as casting director came with Richie Mehta’s Canadian film Amal in 2007. “Set in modern-day New Delhi, it tells the story of a poor autorickshaw driver, Amal Kumar. I did the entire casting for the film,” says Chhabra. One of his biggest films is Rang De Basanti, for which he picked locals from Delhi, where a large portion of the film Disclaimer: This PDF is auto-generated based on the information available on Shiksha as on 04-Jun-2020. was shot. “I knew almost all the actors in Delhi and that came in handy,” he says. The other movies Chhabra has been involved with are Hijack and Yuvvraaj as casting assistant, Love Aaj Kal as casting director, Kaminey as casting associate and most recently, Teen Patti as casting assistant. So, what does a casting director do? He is a representative of the director, almost a mini-director, whose job is to help place the right actor for the role. Chhabra’s job, therefore, is to keep his eyes open for interesting faces. “It is a very challenging task to find a new actor, a new face every time you do a film. I consciously try to avoid people who’ve done a film in the past,” he says. Casting is also perhaps the most important part of the film as its fate depends on the actors. If the cast is able to create an impression on the audience, you have been Disclaimer: This PDF is auto-generated based on the information available on Shiksha as on 04-Jun-2020. successful. “That is the litmus test,” says Chhabra. A casting director needs to spend time with the actor he is auditioning and even help him perform better. He needs to have a basic understanding of the film’s script, plays, performance, know how to judge performance and the script, he says. “These days it’s Facebook that has been coming to my rescue. It’s a platform where I get to interact with a lot of new people, especially youngsters,” adds Chhabra. How much time does it take to select someone for a role? “On an average, I get to audition 200-300 people for the lead actor or actress. My recent film, Chillar Party, directed and produced by Nitesh Tiwari and Vikas Behl, is about nine children who reside in the same society and try to save a street dog from a politician who wants to kill it. I travelled the length and breadth of the country to audition 7,600 children. The entire process took me four months.” Disclaimer: This PDF is auto-generated based on the information available on Shiksha as on 04-Jun-2020. At the end of the day, it is a very satisfying job. “You almost feel like the director,” says Chhabra, adding “I don’t think I can do anything else.” Another famous name in this field is Loveleen Tandan, the casting director for the Academy Award winner, Slumdog Millionaire. Rubiana Ali (young Latika) and Azharuddin Ismail (young Salim) were her discoveries. Tandan, who did her graduation from Hindu College and studied film-making at Jamia, got her first break in 1998 with Deepa Mehta’s Earth. Monsoon Wedding by Mira Nair followed in 2001. Author: HT Horizons Date: 6th April, 2010 For further details about relared courses and colleges please click below: Related courses and colleges Disclaimer: This PDF is auto-generated based on the information available on Shiksha as on 04-Jun-2020..