Casting expert Mukesh Chhabra launches his own casting studio

He is the go to man for all top directors in the country when it comes to casting. If Imtiaz Ali wants someone to fit the role of a Himachal native, Mukesh Chhabra has an actor sitting ready in Himachal. Ditto for all other directors. Coming from humble beginnings, Mukesh today has risen to the top echelons of Bollywood to become one of the top casting directors of Bollywood. The same was evident yesterday when some of country's top directors visited Mukesh's new studio on its inaugural day. In attendance were ace directors Rajkumar Hirani, Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali, Abhishek Kapoor, Kabir Khan, Nikhil Advani, Akshat Verma, Nishikant Kamat, Navdeep Singh, Suneil Shetty, Aditya Pancholi, National Award winner actor Rajkummar Rao and the young heartthrobs of B-town-Sushant Singh Rajput, Sidharth Malhotra, Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, Aditi Rao Hydari and well-known lyricist Irshad Kamil. Rajkumar Hirani who has worked with Chhabra in his most awaited next P.K says, "This is the first time I opted for a professional casting director and I am very happy with the result. Very few people have an eye to understand what the role is. Some people get you pretty faces. That is not good casting. And Mukesh has a great understanding of characters." Anurag Kashyap who has collaborated with Chhabra on Wasseypur 1 and 2, Bombay Velvet and Ugly says, "I feel much more relaxed with Mukesh around. I can give him any kind of brief and he will give me five options. This is the advantage of working with a good casting director." Imtiaz Ali, who did Love Aaj Kal, Rockstar and Highway, with Chhabra was all praises for the casting director. "I don't cast. Mukesh Chhabra does it for me. It’s very convenient. Because of Mukesh casting has become a recognisable department in the film industry. He casts the right people and the film is better already. Mukesh who worked as an actor and teacher with 'Theatre in Education' company, which is affiliated with National School of Drama (NSD) will conduct weekend workshops and monthly workshops of 10 days at his studio. The monthly workshop will have 20 students in each batch. “Apart from my film workshops, I will also be conducting acting workshops with new talent which will be free of cost for the initial few months," says Mukesh. Elaborating further on the purpose behind opening this studio, Mukesh who is known to have introduced many new talents in Hindi films says, "It was my dream to have a casting studio which is accessible to all, where any talented actor can just walk in and give an audition.” “This dream wouldn’t have become a reality without the unflinching support of all the directors who believed in me and of course, my dedicated team." The first weekend-acting-workshop will be conducted by Manoj Bajpai. Let's hope Mukesh is unable to earth more fine talent with the help of his new casting studio.