For the first time, an award for casting at the Oscars: Months of research and thousands of auditions; This is how memorable characters of films are chosen

The success of a film or web series also depends on which actor is chosen for which character. In the last few years, the thinking of casting in Indian cinema has completely changed. There was a time when actors were confined to one type of character. Jagdish Raj Khurana once made a Guinness World Record by playing the role of Police Inspector in 144 films. But now the most suitable face is searched for every character. Be it Naseeruddin Shah’s JRD Tata in ‘Made in India A Titan Story’, which was recently streamed on OTT, Akshay Khanna’s Aurangzeb in ‘Chhaava’, Prateek Gandhi’s Harshad Mehta in ‘Scam 1992’ or Vicky Kaushal in ‘Sam Bahadur’… these characters proved that perfect casting can give new heights to the story. Come, let us know from the casting directors of these films how this process of choosing the right actor is completed. Three famous casting directors of the country tell how the casting process has changed. Tess Joseph, Projects – Sitare Zameen Par, The Namesake, The White Tiger, The Monkey Man Casting lasts for months. For example, the casting of ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ lasted for about nine months. The team first conducted a workshop with Australian organization ‘Bus Stop Films’ to understand the neurodivergent community. After this 800-1000 audition tapes were watched. Many times ‘Two Actors, Two Minutes, One Scene’ session is conducted, in which two actors are given a scene to see how much they listen to each other, how they react and how comfortable they are in acting together. Yash Nagarkoti Projects – Made in India – A Titan Story, Dabba Cartel Casting in a biography is not done by looking at photos. First we understand the person from books and available sources, then an actor is chosen who looks most natural in the character. Naseeruddin Shah’s personality in ‘Made in India: A Titan Story’ was already very close to JRD Tata, so there was no need for heavy make-up. Jim Sarbh, instead of wearing a wig to play the character of Xerxes Desai, shaved his hair every day during the entire shoot, so that it looked real on screen. Vaibhav Vishant, Projects: Chhaava, Mamla Legal Hai, Ikkis, Rakh, Maidan, Kaala-Pani, Till about 15 years ago, there was no separate department of casting in films. The director and his team handled the responsibility of choosing the artist. But the scope of films increased, the need for new faces increased and casting became a separate profession. Now casting teams reach out to smaller towns and local artists. Theater artistes from different states also got a chance in series like Mamla Legal Hai. Today, to find the right actor one has to go to the world where the character actually exists. Now there is an award for perfect casting in Oscars. Now a separate category for casting has been started in Oscar Awards too. Its first honor was given at the 2026 Oscar ceremony. Cassandra Kulukundis received her first Oscar Award in the casting category for casting for the Hollywood film ‘One Battle After Another’. Entertainment JRD became Naseer in ‘Titan’… Characters were the big strength of films like ‘Chhaava’ and ‘Sam Bahadur’



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