Abhishek Banerjee is not someone who can be described with one adjective. What defines his abilities as a new age casting director and prolific actor is his command over characters and a knack for experimentation.
Inspired by Rajinikanth’s stardom
“I grew up in Chennai and was very much influenced by Rajinikant’s stardom and importance of cinema in Tamil culture. My story is similar to every ordinary Indian boy’s tale. My father wanted me to become an engineer or a professional but I was sure that I have to be in the Hindi film industry. I joined college through the quota for extra curricular activities but I am still not a graduate,” he chuckles.
His film career started with a small appearance in Rang De Basanti when he was in his final year of college before joining as a casting assistant to his mentor Gautam Mirchandani on Dev D .
The last decade has seen the rise of casting directors as important stakeholders in the film industry as ‘content driven’ cinema has created a huge requirement of talent, which was otherwise not seen by the audience. “It started happening when people started seeing themselves on screen,” says Abhishek who runs casting company Casting Bay with Anmol Ahuja.
As an actor, he has been applauded for his roles in recent hits including Stree , Bala , Dream Girl , and Amzaon Prime’s web series Mirzapur . His choice of characters echoes his sensibilities as a person and he insists on bringing his own flavour to whatever is offered to him. “All my characters have their own political thoughts of the world around. If it is not in the script, I put it into them so that they become rooted to the local flavour. Mahender from Dream Girl sees the world in a rosy way but he is righteous in deciding his position on a situation. Ajju from Bala is not confused when people make sexist remarks about Yami Gautam’s character when she leaves Bala,” he explains.
Along with Aparshakti Khurana, he has emerged as the new ‘friend’ of the Hindi film protagonist. “The friend in a film acts as a shadow of the lead. If you omit that character, the main actor has to speak to himself. It will not be interesting. There is no other reason for a friend to be there in the film. I think writers should create characters who are human and have a character arc of their own.”
Workshop for actors
As someone who trains and cultivates new talent, he believes in training and workshops for actors. It is said long rehearsals diminish unpredicted surprises and unrehearsed acting is labelled as ‘subtle’. Abhishek differs, “I agree performances that remain with you are those that are felt at the time of the shoot. This is why spaces are important and the environment around your film set has a bearing on your performance. If the set is in Benaras or Agra, you cannot imagine that in a workshop in Mumbai but some kind of chemistry building workshops for actors to build a rapport with them is necessary to build a base before they go to the ‘real’ setting,” insists Abhishek.
All my characters have their own political thoughts of the world around
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