For television to grow, new talent needs to come in regularly - Vishal Sharma, Casting Director

Vishal Sharma, the Casting Director has managed to cast for two big and unique shows in the space of just two years. After bringing the vibrant pair of Ruslaan Mumtaz and Sangeeta Ghosh to cast their magic on the audience in Rose Audio Visuals Pvt. Ltd.’s Kehta Hai Dil… Jee Le Zara on Sony TV, the man has now teamed up with the talented Producers J.D. Majethia and Aatish Kapadia (Hats Off Productions) to give viewers a taste of India’s first alien comedy show, with Badi Dooooor Se Aaye Hain for SAB TV. In conversation with Tellychakkar.com, Vishal talks of his journey casting for Badi Dooooor…Excerpts: Once you were done with casting the big names of Jee Le Zara, what did you have in mind? I never had any particular idea in mind. Of course, after casting for a show of such a big magnitude, I wanted to do something different in my next assignment. Also, I had not cast for a comedy show. So when Hats Off approached me, and they narrated this out-of-the-box concept to me, I grabbed it with both hands. Badi Dooooor is a very different concept on Indian TV, and has not been touched upon by anyone. Also, Hats Off is a great production house to be associated with, especially because of the ideas and concepts they come up with. So I was excited about the prospect of casting for the first alien comedy show in India. What were the initial problems that you encountered while looking for the cast? Actually, when we started casting, we were looking at some big faces like Manoj Joshi, Rajpal Yadav, Shekhar Suman, Salil Ankola, Vivek Mushran, Rohit Roy and for the matter of fact, the talented couple Pankaj Kapur and Supriya Pathak. We even had a discussion of casting the Khichdi pair, and names of Deven Bhojani were also touted. But as we proceeded, the age of the actors got reduced drastically, and we started to look for younger actors. Continue... In fact, there is a myth that Hats Off always makes shows with a Gujarati backdrop; but this does not apply here. We have only one family in the chawl who are Gujarati. So you can say that we have changed the trend. How did you chance upon Sumeet Raghavan? See, the idea was to bring in a performer with good looks, who was young. When we thought about Sumeet Raghavan, we were apprehensive of whether he would take up such a role. But then things fell in place. Also, we had a big struggle to find the wife of Sumeet. We wanted someone who was very young and beautiful. After a rigorous data search, we chanced upon Rupali Bhosale, who was a noted name in Marathi theatre. She was perfect for the role, and that was my belief. And JD Sir went ahead with my gut feeling and trust. Talk us through the other characters... We wanted very different families living in the chawl. Bhaktiyaar’s name was an immediate choice. But we had never thought of Tanaaz initially. We were looking at someone like Kishwer Merchantt. But then we found the pairing of Bhaktiyaar and Tanaaz quite interesting. We also had a tough time getting the two kids. Puneet Talreja, who plays the eldest son of Sumeet gave his first ever audition for Badi Dooooor. And when we showed his option, he immediately clicked and looked perfect for the role of the alien. Then, when we were going through some random auditions of Marathi actors, we happened to get Sujay Suhas Bhagwe, who plays the younger son of Sumeet. So how was it to work with JD and Aatish? They are extremely talented people and it has been a privilege to be associated with such big Producers. The best part is that they applaud your work at every given chance. I got to learn a lot from them while casting for the show. I am happy that I have been able to cast for two big shows on TV in 2 years. Hats Off’s shows Sarabhai V/s Sarabhai, Khichdi, Baa Bahu Aur Baby have made a mark for themselves and we are sure that Badi Dooooor will also fall into the same elite group. Tell us about the manner in which you go about your work? I believe in casting for different shows. I was really excited to be casting for a love story for Jee Le Zara. And I can now say that Badi Dooooor is a very ‘hatke’ subject. I feel one needs to give as many chances as possible to the younger lot of actors. The experienced faces will always be there, but for television to grow, new talent needs to come in regularly. And Hats Off gave me that freedom to look for a perfect cast. We wanted a mix of good looking faces, who are great performers, and we managed to get exactly that. The plus point of working with a channel like SAB TV is that they look for performers. Overall, Badi Dooooor will surely cast its magic with its comedy and magical touch. It will be an interesting watch to see the mannerisms of the alien family and how they adapt themselves amidst the common people. Aatish Sir writes some mind-blowing concepts, and this is surely a show that will make a mark. Any special influence you have got from people around you in this journey… I will want to thank my assistant Rahul Raina. He has helped me a lot. He has put in a lot of hard work. Dipesh Shah as always, has been tremendous with his data research. Both JD sir and Aatish sir have guided us always. I would want to thank my brother Akshay Sharma and grandmother, Hats Off team, Mayur Kothak the HOP and my friend Anjali for all the support. Last but not the least, I bow down to Khatu Shyamji (Lord Krishna) who has helped me cast for two good shows.