Anushree Casting Adventures

by aparnamalladi

It is said that casting is 50% of directing.  Maybe it’s 70% or maybe 40%.  Whatever the percentages, casting is undeniably the most important part of directing a film.  I love and hate casting with equal passion.  I love it because it makes my screenplay come to life as I meet actors and imagine them saying and doing things I wrote during the last two years and I hate it because it is a nightmare trying to find the right actor for the right part.

When I was making ‘Mitsein’, I cast Smriti Mishra as the lead in Mumbai and once I got back from Mumbai, I just auditioned for the rest of my cast.  I did not have the resources to cast my net too wide and I picked the best I could from what showed up and made my film.  With ‘The Anushree Experiments’, I have a bigger pool to select from and moreover I can attract thoroughbred actors for the various roles in my film.  It is very exciting to have professionals to work with.  However, now I and running into a whole new set of issues.  Egos are big and frail.  Calling or approaching an actor can be perceived as a loss of power.  Playing ‘Hard to Get’ is practiced at a level that I cannot even begin to explain.

The pros want to feel that they are being respected for their craft.  They don’t want to be seen as work horses who are just are in the profession for the money.  Many of the good ones are truly not in it for the bucks.  The rest just pretend.  Every actor has a price.  Some just deal in a different currency.  The ones that are established have issues like ‘Their Screen Image’, how exciting is the project, who are the other cast members, how significant is their role, what are their opportunity costs, what will they get out of the project other than creative satisfaction.  Some actors need the assurance that my financier is strong enough to carry the project all the way, other need to know if my producer is experienced (especially in light of the fact that I am fairly inexperienced).  Lots of intangibles.  The real killer is when I am trying to figure out the subtext of what the actors or their secretaries are really saying, what they are not saying and a whole slew of hidden sayings in between.

Approaching the actor is an art in itself.  Especially in India where there is no established system of agents and managers.  The approach has to be through the right person.  The person giving the reference has to be an industry heavyweight or an industry opinion leader.  Sometimes the person who gives the reference wants something for his efforts.  It’s not usually money.  The chance to be associated with the project in some way.  To tag along on an exciting project.  In the case of ‘The Anushree Experiments’, the chance to be associated with a so called ‘International Project’.  Maybe the game in Mumbai or Hyderabad has gotten boring for them and they want a conduit to a bigger playground.  I usually take that as a compliment.  It tells me that the person at least thinks highly of my project.  All in all, casting has become a tad bit more complicated than when I just put a simple ad on Film Arts Foundation’s Forum site announcing my film.  A whole new set of parameters have come into play and I am trying to get a grip on this complex process so I don’t fuck up and approach the wrong actor through the wrong person in a wrong way or God forbid I will not work in this town.

I am new to the Hyderabad film industry and so the onus of making friends and sussing the players and mechanics of this place is entirely on me.  I have to take the initiative.  I have to put my hand out first for the shake and I have to sell myself first.  I have zero street cred here.  My filmmaking awards and US experience does not count for much here.  Here, the locals have their own game and their own secret rules.  I am just the naive outsider.  I can either learn to play in their arena or pack my bags and leave.  I have to honor the power structure in this place (First I have to figure out the power structure to begin with).

The locals have paid their dues here in this industry and as they have a saying in India ‘On his turf, even a Dog is a Lion’ (I hope I got the translation right).  In short, I cannot break levels and get into the mix.  I mean these guys have grown up with each other since their trench warfare days and I understand that.  I feel the same in Los Angeles and San Francisco.  My film friends, my buddies from when we were shooting 16mm films on old Bolex cameras – we worked with each other in rain and heat and we celebrated and egged each other on.  We fought circumstances and we fought each other.  We cried and celebrated, we bitched and mourned.  We made films together.  In Los Angeles, when I see my filmmaker friends and their progress, I see a future where we will inherit the town together.  In Hyderabad film industry I have no currency of past favors to trade with.  I am just someone who is respectfully tolerated for a few minutes at a party.  The formality and the respect is the barrier.  That is them saying – ‘You are just a Guest’.  I can only buy my way in and probably at only premium rates.

I am catching on fast.  To win, one has to know the rules and become a master of the game even if it is a one-off game.  After ‘The Anushree Experiments’, I may never come back to Hyderabad to make a film.  I have no idea what my next screenplay will be and where it will be set.  I am pretty short-sighted at the moment and cannot see beyond one screenplay and beyond Dec 2010.

When I decided to come to Hyderabad, I knew that I would have to adapt and learn a new language.  I knew that I would be challenged and that I would have to get out of my comfort zone.  I came prepared.

With every film, my learning curve is steep.  With every film I am transformed into someone I cannot recognize.  I resist it every time and I lose every time.  Even the resistance is transformational and it’s never-ending.  How does one keep up with such a person who transforms at such rapid rates?  Maybe the trick is to not keep up.

Pierre Assouline, my producer is coming back from France on August 20th, 2010 and I anticipate his return with eagerness.  My financier Kevin Kevi has been so busy, I haven’t heard from him in ages.  I consider that a positive thing.  It means he is making a lot of money and that is always a good thing.  I am slowly getting to know of possible actors who can be cast for the role of ‘Anushree’ and her father ‘Shashi’ (My principal casting).  Yes, I approached them through the right reference.  Pierre and I are extremely happy with the latest draft of my screenplay.  I should start to story board and gather my visuals together.  I have this habit of creating paper collages of visuals and keeping a binder for inspiration.  And someone suggested I need to hang with 21-year-old Indian girls.  Great idea!

:0)

Aparna

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