Kavish Sinha Says Nobody Celebrates Casting Directors: ‘Actors Forget Our Names’ | Web series

Casting director Kavish Sinha is as passionate about his profession as he is about the actors he secures for roles. He is behind the casting of some of the fresh faces in Hindi serials like Undekhi, Rocket Boys and Mumbai Diaries. (Also read: Nikkhil Advani reveals how the cast of Rocket Boys was chosen, says ‘Jim Sarbh was a given’)

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Kavish shared that it was “mere serendipity” that led him to enter this field. Over the years, he worked in journalism, advertising, and social media marketing before landing a job as a casting director at his own company.

He recalls, “I was from an advertising background and happened to meet Shanu Sharma, a mutual friend who is the head of casting at Yash Raj Films. She is a person who is constantly working, even when she is resting. I found this very intriguing. I asked Shanu, “Can I be your assistant?” And so the casting assistant began. I was almost 30 so it was quite late but having said that I wanted a career change.

After working with Shanoo for a year in 2016, Kavish started his own company On-My-Kayroll. Fortunately, he happened to be in the right place at the right time. He shared, “Fortunately, I got into the OTT business. Since I had a film background and had worked in long formats before, a lot of web series started coming my way. I chose Lakhon Mein Ek very early in my career. It did really well for Prime Video and there was no turning back from there.”

His ability to recognize faces and knowledge of his advertising background also helped. Cavish shared that the biggest success he gets is finding a new face to launch. He said, “What else is in it for us? They don’t even mention us. We don’t even get nominations for this. No one celebrates casting directors in India. There is no other recognition as such. So many times actors forget to mention our names in interviews because we don’t hang out on set. Our work ends before then, so people tend to forget. I don’t blame them. It’s just an out of sight, out of mind sort of thing.”

He continued: “This also stems from the availability problem of all the famous actors. There is so much work and hardly any actors have dates these days. This is a big problem we are facing. It’s crazy right now because there are tons of shows, feature films, and people only go with experienced actors. There is a set of them [same] 70-80 actors who are seen in different platforms and formats.”

Cavish and his company want to break that familiarity and look at other, newer talent. The casting director praised the youngsters joining the business these days who come trained in several key aspects including body language. It’s not just about having a good body anymore, the new generation of actors are actually preparing for their craft.

In addition to Indian projects, Kavish has also featured in international shows like Slave Market. But he shares that it requires a different style of acting that most in India have moved on from. Kavish explained, “They want Indians to bring that excellence to the whole project. They want them to be loud and highly emotional, which fortunately for us, in our country, is no longer the case. Now we need more finesse from the actors. But yes, when international projects come in, they require a bit of that.

Sometimes he and his team face a challenge when trying to push newer talent. Kavish says he usually records his actors and pitches them to the directors, letting them decide. He said, “Whereas they will think of a famous actor for a certain role, the moment I do it [send] in a fresh face who performs equally well in this, the directors left me alone for this. [This] the transition has happened in the last five-six years since OTT came into it. The directors are extremely open to new talent, because they also find it their own peak. Ek naya bacche ko uthke maine star bana diya (We took a new kid and made him a star). Obviously, everyone is interested in it.”

He went on to say, “I also made sure as a casting director to get new people for my directors. What’s the fun otherwise? If they tell me to pick the father and if I get you Pankaj Tripathi, there is no fun in that for me. The director could have done it himself. I’ve been given one job in the world, if I don’t do it then I see no reason to be in it. I put a lot of my personal investment into finding a face for a particular character.

Taking an example from Ajay Devgn’s Rudra, Kavish insisted on very unusual castings for the villains in the Disney+ drama Hotstar. He said: “The actor comes with a lot of range, it’s just that we don’t explore it much here in our country because we’ve always been busy with typical casting. Ek mein villain banaya, toh sab mein villain bana do (Once a villain, always a villain). Most of the villains are the best comedians in the country. And vice versa. You have to see beyond the roles, their faces and what they’ve been doing all this time to create something new.”

On the subject of A-listers and auditions, he revealed that they mostly read with the director. But many are already open to the suggestions the casting team has to offer. He said, “Even these big actors realized that this is something we haven’t done before and we have to test or at least go and read with the director so that we get into the channel as well. The director also wants to read with you once and see if you have understood and interpreted everything. When I say every actor, I don’t mean the Khans, of course.”

He added: “They come to readings and seminars just for their benefit. It’s beautiful how this whole ecosystem is happening and working right now. It’s actually very seamless.”

On-My-Kayroll is busy with many different projects lined up for the year including Atal Bihari Bajpayee starring Pankaj Tripathi and Anurag Basu’s Metro… In Dino. He is doing several projects with Nikkhil Advani’s Emmay Entertainment, saying that the director believes in him like I believe in him. He also has new seasons of Mumbai Diaries, Undekhi and Duranga releasing later this year.

“This is where I found my calling. I really don’t know how long this will last due to external factors, but I’d rather not do anything other than that right now,” he concluded.