Advait Chandan’s Secret Superstar hits the spot at many levels. Not only does it tell an endearing story using raw talent, it also boasts of a superstar who isn’t trying to be one for a change. The Aamir Khan, Zaira Wasim starrer is a rare achievement in terms of casting too. In this exclusive, Abhishek Banerjee of Casting Bay, who also has Phillauri, Rock On!!, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Ajji and Tu Hai Mera Sunday to his credit as a casting director along with the Aamir smash hit, speaks to The Quint about finding honest actors and what they brought to the success of Secret Superstar.
Q: What about Zaira Wasim had Aamir Khan sold on her for Insiya’s character?
Abhishek Banerjee: Aamir sir had already seen Insiya in Zaira. He compelled Advait (Chandan) and us to take a look at her and once we did, we just knew it. The moment we auditioned her, we knew she was Insiya. You know how some people are casually brave. They’re brave, rebels, but it’s not pronounced in their mannerisms and body language. So that quality she has inherently. When she acts, this quality is so clear that you can’t take your eyes off her.
Q: But the casting call for Secret Superstar said that the makers were looking for a singer-actor...
Abhishek Banerjee: She can sing a little, but more important for an actor is having a sense of rhythm. She has that basic rhythm, knowledge, and she was trained further. But yes, we were aiming for someone who was a proper singer, but unfortunately in our country, the combination of singing and theatre is very rare. We found great singers who couldn’t act very well and vice versa. But at least with a good actor, you get a sense of rhythm which works for the part.
Q: So who is the real discovery of Secret Superstar, Zaira or Tirth?
Abhishek Banerjee: Zaira is somebody who was already discovered, we can only talk about her future in the industry from here on. But Tirth is the real discovery of Secret Superstar. It’s really rare to find someone in an audition who turns out to be so so talented, from a small city like Baroda. If you see the film you’ll see that he’s a very honest boy, so his performance has a very rare honesty. Aamir is right, there are many secret superstars in this film.
Q: As a casting director, how do you tell the difference between honesty and trying too hard?
Abhishek Banerjee: It is quite easy now for me, I’ve been doing this for a long time. You can tell from a ‘Hi’ or a ‘Hello’, whether it is a trained ‘Hi’ or it’s a genuine reaction... like they’re meeting you in the middle of the street, or in your house. So, if they can bring that natural element into the audition room, we obviously notice that. It means that their parents haven’t coached them to audition, they are genuinely interested in acting and want to audition themselves.
There are many kids who are forced to audition, just like they’re forced to mug up science, maths, english, which they might not like. So, it’s actually quite easy to spot kids who are naturals and auditioning out of their own interest, for their love of acting. See, kids don’t know craft. So whatever they do is complete brutal honesty. If they get it, they’re better than adult actors, almost always.
Q: What was Advait’s reaction when he finally found his Insiya and Chintan?
Abhishek Banerjee: He was definitely sold after Zaira’s audition. Advait is like a child you know. He’s so passionate that he jumps. So with both Zaira and Tirth, he was happy and big eyed when the decision was made. Yes, there was another option for Tirth’s character, and we took a long long time to cast Tirth... about seven-eight months.
Tirth was the most difficult character to cast for. We just couldn’t find that innocence in any of the Gujarati city kids. At 12-13 years, we’re still figuring out love, it’s that kind of age, and it’s more of a caring relationship that guys have at this age. So we were really looking for that tenderness, which is so hard to find and it was very frustrating also.
City kids, Bombay kids, are probably more mature. But we didn’t want that for Chintan. He totally stood out in the crowd. After school he goes to theatre class, he loves that. Usko bahut mazaa aata hai (he has a lot of fun doing theatre). He dances very well and enjoys it thoroughly.
Q: What convinced you of the chemistry between Meher Vij and Zaira Wasim as the on-screen mother-daughter duo?
Abhishek Banerjee: We auditioned a lot of actors for Najma’s character too. But you can’t ignore the uncanny resemblance between Zaira and Meher, and most importantly, she gave a terrific audition. We did a lot of joint auditions too. Their chemistry is amazing. The thing is, we were looking for a friendship in the mother-daughter relationship. If you meet Meher, she’s very approachable, she’ll have stories to tell you and she has a nice energy about her. It’s the same with Zaira. Their energies are very similar, you’ll see it on screen.
Q: How did Zaira and Tirth react to the news that they’ll be in Secret Superstar?
Abhishek Banerjee: There’s a difference between Zaira and Tirth here, because she was already doing Dangal and already knew Aamir. But Tirth, his father is in the government service... he belongs to a normal middle class family, and for him to get the role was really something. He was on top the world, he couldn’t believe it! His father and his family, they were all ecstatic. Giving them the news was a very special feeling.
Q: What’s the thought process while casting new faces with a megastar like Aamir Khan?
Abhishek Banerjee: In Aamir’s case it was the opposite to how it usually is... he wanted to be as real as the other actors who we cast. If they’re going with real faces, the big actors adapt themselves. In the process, you don’t feel that he’s Aamir Khan. What I’ve seen is that he’s just trying to be one of the actors in the film.
Q: Since you’re both an actor as well as a casting director, what’s the most frustrating part of each role?
Abhishek Banerjee: Any actor who is in casting will tell you how frustrating it is when you come across a smashing role, but you can’t do it because of certain reasons or because you know that you’re not perfect to play that character. Also, as an actor, it’s a learning experience... because the way you think you’ll play a character, then you see someone else do it better, someone who you have cast, then you start developing that in the characters that you’ll approach in the future.
Q: What are your thoughts about casting couch in Bollywood?
Abhishek Banerjee: This is something that I feel might be in the past. I’m not sure if it’s exploitation... because sometimes it’s also consensual. Somehow you hear about it, but I don’t think it’s in the mainstream cinema, which we function in. We’ve heard stories but those you hear in every party. For me, someone asking you to even be friendly, or to expect a coffee, or to respond to your calls... that is more than enough if you talk about exploitation... one doesn’t even need to go to the casting couch. We need to basically develop a trust between actors and casting directors, I’ve seen the mistrust, we really need to change that.
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