Inaamulhaq on casting mechanism in Bollywood: "Today if someone like Rajinikanth were starting out, a casting director might not even forward his profile"

Inaamulhaq is one of the most seasoned and versatile actors in Bollywood, best known for his work in films like Jolly LLB 2, Airlift and more. The actor recently opened up about a major issue in the film industry- its casting mechanism.

In a conversation with Digital Commentary, Inaamulhaq candidly shared that despite his long career, the industry continues to overlook him — to the extent that many still identify him primarily as “Akshay Kumar’s co-actor” because of their repeated collaborations.

He said, “I see a lot of outsiders, and you can genuinely feel their frustration. Many of them live in Versova, I live there too, and whenever I meet them, there’s a visible sadness. This sadness mostly stems from the unfair practices of casting agencies. I feel directors need to take more responsibility. They comfortably sit in their air-conditioned offices, receive a shortlist of 10 actors, and make their decisions based on that. But my question is, who are these 10 actors being shortlisted?"

He further said, "Isn’t it possible they’re simply the ones who are close to the casting directors? Can we really say that the process is genuine? What’s stopping these lists from being manipulated?”