Young and enthusiastis Ameya Patil, who creates magic on-screen with his castings for Fireworks Productions’ shows like Shapath – Super Cops vs Super Villains, Gutur Gu, CID and the recently launched series Khunkhaar, didn’t have a smooth journey before he entered into this field as a casting director.
With a strong determination of entering into the field of entertainment, he finally made it and is growing each day, polishing his skills and bringing out new and popular faces with new ventures on screen. Tellychakkar.com had a conversation with Ameya on his journey as a casting director so far. Read on to know more about him –
Tell us a bit about yourself...
I hail from Mumbai and I have done my Bachelors in Mass Media in Advertising. I was quite certain about joining this field because being from the field of Advertising, I had that ‘Filmy Keeda’ in me. I didn’t have any aim to go into casting but luckily I reached here as I wanted to do something in this area. I started working with Israni Communications-the agency and after being there for three months, I joined Aditya Surana at Fireworks and I am with him since then.
Did you struggle to reach here?
I didn’t have to struggle because of my Degree. Family problem was there because my father wanted me to work in a bank. I didn’t know anyone in the industry and people used to say that here only references help. In my initial days, I was ready to work for free but no one was giving me work even for free. I had lost hopes and already joined a bank. In a few days, I got a call from Israni, they were looking for coordinators and I didn’t even know then that what a coordinator actually did! I joined him, progressed and then came to Fireworks. I have done Shapath for two years, Gutur Gu, Aahat, CID and every show related to Fireworks.
You have done casting for different genres; what is the process like?
When we get the brief of the story and the characters, we get an image in our mind. We have an idea about the actors and about their skills to perform certain roles. For casting for episodics, we first listen to the story, get the idea about the characters and then go ahead.
Casting for supernatural shows must be very different... Please comment...
It’s difficult to cast for supernatural genre. Everybody comes in the industry with a wish to get a daily soap. I feel that you don’t get chance to perform in a daily soap because you don’t get variety, whereas, you get something different to do in episodics. There is a variety to play with in Khunkhaar. A character is given an importance in an episodic series. I think villain was more powerful than cops in the Supervillain series because without the villains, the cops would have nothing to do. There were many actors who used to deny for Shapath saying that they won’t have any scope to perform but according to me, it’s a great experience.
New talent or known ones; what’s your preference for casting?
New talents are always welcome but there are few people who come to act with a thought in their mind that acting is easy where you just have to come, deliver your dialogues and leave but it shouldn’t be like that. I always prefer talent.
Best casting done so far?
It’s for Khunkhaar!!! Each and every character – Harshad Arora, Vaishnavi Dhanraj or Ragini Nandwani - is just perfect.
Was Harshad Arora the first choice as the lead for Khunkhaar?
Yes, Harshad was the first choice because the channel was keen on casting good faces. We didn’t audition much for this role. There were four-five people who were shortlisted. With a good physique and a presentable way of talking, Harshad was looking much better in terms of personality. His show Dehleez recently wrapped up and he was free so he was roped in. Ankit Raj also turned out to be very well.
Any tips for aspirant casting directors?
I am still learning and according to me one can come into this industry only when he is ready to learn something new every day. The moment a person thinks that he has learned everything then everything just gets over. One can grow only when he is ready to learn.
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