‘If You Are Not Somebody, Nobody Would Give You Time’

‘It
was
a
very
disorganised
industry
back
then
and
people
were
very
disrespectful
towards
actors.’

From
Kharagpur
to
Mumbai

Abhishek
Banerjee
moved
forward
with
determination
to
make
his
career
in
the
spotlight.

He
took
up
his
first
gig
as
casting
director
so
that
he
didn’t
have
to
worry
about
looming
rent
and
bills,
simultaneously
hustling
for
his
acting
dream.

Over
the
next
few
years,
he
went
on
to
become
a
reliable
actor,
even
as
his
professional
endeavour
Casting
Bay
ushered
many
actors’
way
into
sparking
careers.

It’s
all
about
the
talent,
of
course.

“Just
because
somebody
is
nice
to
me
doesn’t
guarantee
a
job.
If
Raghav
Juyal
is
being
cast
by
Casting
Bay
in
back-to-back
projects,
it
is
not
because
he
is
sending
sweets
to
our
homes.
He
is
simply
giving
good
auditions,”
Abhishek
tells

Mayur
Sanap/Rediff.com
in
this
concluding
part
of
the
interview.

Do
actors
pretend
to
be
nice
to
you
to
land
acting
jobs?
How
do
you
see
through
the
façade?

I
understand
that
every
actor
needs
a
job,

yaar.

If
they
are
trying
to
be
nice
to
me,
I
have
nothing
against
it.
The
only
thing
is
that
they
have
to
be
good
in
the
audition
room.

Just
because
somebody
is
nice
to
me
doesn’t
guarantee
a
job.

If
Raghav
Juyal
is
being
cast
by
Casting
Bay
in
back-to-back
projects,
it
is
not
because
he
is
sending
sweets
to
our
homes.
He
is
simply
giving
good
auditions.

What
are
your
fun
interactions
with
actors
from
the
audition
room?

It’s
been
a
while
honestly
since
I
have
actually
monitored
auditions.
I
have
not
stepped
inside
an
audition
room
in
six
years.

Any
actor
that
you
were
not
sure
about
but
later
became
a
success
story?

There’s
nobody
I
was
not
sure
about.

Actors,
who
are
good,
will
do
good.

I
always
knew
Shreya
Dhanwanthary
is
a
good
actor
and
she
will
make
a
mark.
And
she
did.

I
always
knew
Wamiqa
Gabbi
would
be
a
good
actor.

I
knew
Vicky
Kaushal
was
going
to
be
a
big
star.

I
knew
Jaideep
Ahlawat
was
going
to
make
a
mark.

The
same
goes
for
Priyanshu
Painyuli.

The
first
few
opportunities
are
easy
to
find,
sometimes
you
can
also
rise
up
to
stardom
overnight.
But
it
is
on
them
how
they
sustain
that.

What
was
your
hustle
like
when
you
were
finding
acting
opportunities
for
yourself?

I
was
very
disappointed
with
the
audition
process.
I
didn’t
really
give
many
auditions,
to
be
honest.

It
was
a
very
disorganised
industry
back
then
and
people
were
very
disrespectful
towards
actors.

If
you
are
not
somebody,
nobody
would
give
you
any
time.
I
used
to
hate
that.

I
only
went
for
auditions
where
I
liked
the
casting
directors
or
who
called
me
respectfully,
like
Abhimanyu
Ray.
I
gave
many
auditions
with
him.

I
also
gave
many
auditions
with
Gautam
Kishanchandani,
who
always
rejected
me!

Mukesh
Chhabra
would
audition
me
a
lot
and
would
cast
me
in
many
projects.

I
did
short
films,
a
few
of
them
were
with
Devashish
Makhija
(Director,
Ajji).
I
also
did
a
few
indie
films
because
they
do
not
take
any
auditions.

Amar
Kaushik
spotted
me
in
one
of
those
films
and
offered
me

Stree.
And
then
I
started
getting
more
films.

Are
you
happy
with
the
kind
of
roles
coming
you
way?

I
get
nice
offers
but
would
want
more
than
what
I
already
have.

There’s
a
huge
list
of
directors
I
want
to
work
with.

I
want
that
kind
of
madness
where
I’m
struggling
hard
to
choose
between
film-makers
and
scripts.

You’ve
not
seen
me
in
films
with
any
big
directors.

Nikkhil
Advani
(Vedaa)
is
the
most
experienced
director
I
have
worked
with
so
far.
The
others
were
mostly
new.

So
there
is
only
one
experienced
director
who
has
shown
faith
in
me,
imagine
how
many
more
I
need!

It’s
slowly
happening
now.

What’s
next?

Rana
Naidu
2
is
coming
up.

Then
there’s

Stolen,
which
has
won
many
awards
internationally.

Section
84
with
Mr
(Amitabh)
Bachchan
has
Ribhu
Dasgupta
as
director.

Vipul
Shah’s

Hisab
has
Shefali
Shah,
Jaideep
Ahlawat
and
me
in
it.