Television industry is obsessed with physical appearances: Casting Director Sanjay Shukla

MUMBAI: TellyChakkar.com got in touch with popular Casting Director Sanjay Shukla from the entertainment world who spoke at length about his journey in the industry and his decision of shifting from television space to movies and web-series. (Read here: A Director's vision is fulfilled by a Casting Director: Kuldeep Singh Chauhan)

Speaking about his journey in the industry, Sanjay said, “I started my career as a casting director in 2017 with Hats Off Productions. I did a couple of shows for the production house and hopped to another production house and did casting for years. In the course of time, I got associated with production houses like Balaji Telefilms, Beyond Dreams, among several others.”

We asked Sanjay about his decision of taking up casting as a profession. He said, “The fact is that I came to Mumbai to become an actor. From 2013, I struggled in the field as an actor and bagged many projects. But, in the course of time, I realised that a lot of actors are quite misjudged for their physical appearances. Casting Directors often don’t entertain the newbies. They are always told that they are ‘not fit’. Sometimes the casting directors don’t even prefer taking auditions of new talent and only judge them on the basis of their looks. I entered the casting space to give opportunities to the newbies so that they can showcase their talent.”

Well, after casting for television for a few years, Sanjay moved to Bollywood and web-series’ space. Explaining the reason behind the same, he said, “There’s no respect for talent in television. For casting directors, there isn’t much scope as many a time, the production and the channel do not give a leeway to the casting directors and don’t go with their instincts. Casting Directors in the television industry are mere puppets in the hands of the channels and the production houses. Meanwhile, in Bollywood and OTT space, importance is given to the casting directors’ words and hence I preferred to take the shift from television to other mediums.”

We asked Sanjay to give a tip to all the budding casting directors, and he shared, “The most important suggestion would be to not judge a book by its cover. An actor might not look at all presentable in branded clothes but he might possess incredible talent and hence I think casting directors shouldn’t let down newbies without an audition. At least give them one chance, one audition, post which you’ll have clarity over their caliber, and then one can judge them.”

Sanjay has a couple of movies and web-series in the pipeline.

Here’s wishing him all the best for his future endeavours.

(Also read: Negotiating with an actor to the production house’s budget is difficult in these times: Casting Director Salman Khan)