How Bollywood outsiders gain entry into the world of Hindi cinema today

Some of our most talented actors have been those with no connections to the film industry at all, including one of the biggest stars in the world – Shah Rukh Khan. (Illustration by Suneesh K.)

Circa 2009. Zoya Akhtar made her directorial debut with Luck by Chance. The film is about Delhi lad Vikram Jaisingh who arrives in Mumbai. With some conviction and a lot of luck, he succeeds in becoming a star with his debut film. Ironically, this part of the outsider was played convincingly by one of the industry’s most prominent insiders – Farhan Akhtar.

Some weeks ago, Zoya released a video announcing the cast of her next film based on the Archies comic book series. Apart from four ‘outsiders’, the movie is also the launch vehicle for Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan, Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson Agastya Nanda and late Sridevi and Boney Kapoor’s daughter Khushi Kapoor.

Trolls had a field day, targeting the director, the actors and anyone and everyone related to the newcomers. The buzzword was nepotism, and nobody was spared. Netizens recalled actor Siddhant Chaturvedi’s famous response to Chunky Panday’s daughter Ananya Panday on a chat show – Jahaan hamaare sapne poore hote hain, wahan inka struggle shuru hota hai (where we fulfil our dreams, their struggle begins).

In a twist of fate, Chaturvedi went on to star opposite Ananya Panday in this year’s much-talked-about Gehraiyaan, also starring Deepika Padukone. The actor has no connections to the film industry. Yet, he made his debut in a prominent role in 2019’s super-successful Gully Boy. Incidentally, this movie was directed by Zoya too.

The point is, outsiders do find a way in. Some of the most talented actors have been those with no connections to the film industry at all, including one of the biggest stars in the world – Shah Rukh Khan. From the younger lot, actors such as Sidharth Malhotra, Kriti Sanon, Kartik Aaryan – who recently delivered the Rs 150 crore hit Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 - Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao and Taapsee Pannu among others have proved their mettle in the industry. Others such as Pankaj Tripathi, Jaideep Ahlawat, Jitendra Kumar (Panchayat), Vikrant Massey, Radhika Apte and Pratik Gandhi have not only become stars on OTT platforms, they are often seen on the big screen as well.

So how do fresh-faced aspirants who dream of becoming the nation’s sweethearts but have no connections with the acting world, breach the wall and become insiders?

In addition to well-established channels to become a Bollywood actor - such as winning beauty pageants, ad films that have gone viral, graduating from a prestigious drama school and via south films - there is increasing support for outsiders from new-age casting companies and production houses.

Casting call

It’s a regular day at Casting Bay’s Aram Nagar office when I visit on a weekday. A couple of actors are hanging around in the waiting room. There are auditions going on in the ground floor rooms, and I get to watch as two actors enter one by one to try out for a small part in an upcoming film. The scene is first discussed with the casting assistants, and after the take is recorded on a mobile camera, their ‘intro’ is recorded: Name, age, height, contact number, place of birth, languages known and prior experience.

“On an average and counting online and offline, there are about 100 auditions that take place every day,” Casting Bay’s co-founder Anmol Ahuja explains. At the end of the day, what they are looking for is a good performance, he adds. “I take those people seriously who have worked on themselves or their craft, not somebody who has decided to become an actor because he has been told that he resembles so-and-so actor. At the end of the day, it is performance that matters,” says Ahuja.

Pranjal Khandhkhiya who launched the production house Outsiders Films with Taapsee Pannu, says it is a misconception that they are against insiders. “Taapsee and I come from non-film backgrounds. We have slogged our asses off to get to the position where we are. Today, we are in a position where we can empower people and support those who are genuinely talented, and whether you are an insider or outsider is irrelevant,” he shares.

Ask any acting aspirant where to head for auditions, and he/she is most likely to point you towards Aram Nagar in Andheri West. Once a post-Partition refugee colony, this neighbourhood is now home to several casting offices, media houses and production studios. Whether you come from Jamshedpur or Jammu, this is where you head when you decide to give showbiz a try.

Born and brought up in Indore, Ruchi Malviya came to Mumbai 13 years ago and became a publicist, before leaving her job to try her luck in the field of acting. With no contacts in the film industry, she started making the rounds of casting agencies and studios and slowly but steadily, started getting small parts in ads and shows. “I joined some WhatsApp groups where auditions and casting calls are posted, but many of them would turn out to be fake,” recalls the actress whose last acting stint was in Mukesh Jasoos on Disney + Hotstar.

A similar story is recounted by Puneet Raj Bhatia, who has done small parts in Suryavanshi and the recently-released Dhaakad. Bhatia quit a lucrative marketing job to take the acting plunge in 2018. “There are groups on Facebook that put out casting calls and we would come to know about auditions. I also discovered that even though we are competing for similar roles, most new actors are helpful and share information about auditions,” he says.

The advent of social media may have its grey areas but for the most part, it has proved to be beneficial for newcomers wanting to showcase their talent to the world. Khandhkhiya says that those days when actors had to do rounds of production houses and wait in queues are long gone. “Today, it’s all digital. We get messages from new actors and technicians on a daily basis and we do spot some of them that way. A lot has changed and I’m sure in the coming years, it’s going to get more and more accessible,” he says.

More content, more work

Ever since digital content made its way into our homes, the Indian audience has been introduced to new talent in various fields, on camera and off it. Ahuja believes it is a win-win for both newcomers and casting agents. “With the emergence of these mediums, not only have newcomers found another platform to show their talent, it’s also become easier for us to spot talent,” he says.

Khandhkhiya seconds him. “There is so much new talent on OTT platforms. There is no Friday pressure, nor the demands of looking like the quintessential hero or heroine. Today, talent of all size, shape and form has a job here,” he says.

For Bhatia, it has been all about work bringing more work. “I did a low-budget brand ad and the same assistant director now works with Rohit Shetty. She remembered me and that’s how I got the role in Suryavanshi,” he says. The 35-year-old had no qualms playing father to the younger Kangana in Dhaakad as well. “Now casting guys are calling me after watching me in these movies. I think work brings you work in this industry, otherwise you will just be sitting and waiting for that one big break, which may or may not happen,” he says.

Bhatia's experience also indicates a break from how things used to be for outsiders in Bollywood a few decades ago. In her memoir, released last year, actor Neena Gupta says a supporting role she played in the film Saath Saath typecast her in such a way that she regretted taking it on for years afterwards.

To be sure, each year thousands of people land up in Mumbai to be in the movies. Given the size of the industry (even with recent expansions) most of these aspirants will be disappointed. Industry insiders still have an advantage today, to get noticed by the right filmmaker, casting director, or producer, and get a chance (or two) to prove themselves.

Different journeys, different struggles

If you are a star’s daughter or son, your access to the producer’s office becomes that much easier.

Says Ahuja, “That’s obvious...” He adds that that's where the advantage ends for most insiders: "It all comes down to this - if you’re good, you get work. If you’re not, you don’t,” he says.

Ananya Panday admitted in an interview to a news portal that she can have access to Karan Johar because of her parents. She added that beyond that, if she didn't have the talent, people would not invest money in her.

This is of course hard to prove, except anecdotally: One sees star kids having a shorter runway - and fewer films to their name if they've delivered flops - in recent years than, say, in the 1990s or early 2000s.

Actor Samar Jai Singh, who is also an acting coach at Kreating Charakters, an acting academy he co-founded in 2005, says this shift became even sharper during the pandemic months. “The pandemic has been an eye opener for the audience and subsequently for the industry. See the films that are crashing now - right from Runway 34 to Samrat Prithviraj, a film in which I acted as well. If people see mediocrity, they reject it,” he says.

Whether the aspirant is an outsider or insider, they both have to work equally on their craft, else they will be ousted, he feels. “Ranbir Kapoor is also a star kid but he gave six initial years to his craft and it shows in his work. Kartik Aaryan, who studied at our institute, honed his skills over the years which is why he is where he is now,” Singh says.

The second reason for the shift in audience’s minds, believes Singh, is the success of south films. “The directors and scriptwriters there are rooted in their culture. Here... kids born and brought up in Mumbai are not connected to their own stories and the psyche of the masses. Storytelling has got into a believable space with real performances and actors who have a very good hold over their craft. If the pandemic had not happened, this shift would have taken another 10 years. The audience didn’t go to theatres, stayed inside and watched great content on OTT. There are so many characters in these shows – you can’t cast so many star kids there,” he says.

Everyone in Bollywood has their share of struggles, of course – even the insiders. Malviya says she harbours no grudge against the star sons and daughters. “One looks up to their parents. If one of my parents was in the acting industry, I too would have looked upon them and wanted to do the same thing,” she says. Everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves, she says and it is what they do with that chance that matters. “If you’re not performing well and still getting five films after that, that is unfair,” she adds, voicing the feelings of many an outsider.

Additional challenges

One would have thought that the infamous casting couch would have become a thing of history, especially with the ‘Me Too’ movement, but sadly, Ahuja says nothing of the sort has happened. “It still happens, full on. That’s the sad reality of it,” he remarks. Ask him if this is one area where the insiders have an advantage and he nods in agreement. “Hundred percent. When you are associated with certain people in the industry, others will be careful in how they approach you,” he says.

When we asked Malviya if she has ever been at the receiving end of an indecent proposition in exchange for a role, all she says is, “I have never faced casting couch so far. It happens though.”

Two things that matter the most when one is pursuing a career in acting, opine most of the actors we spoke to for this story, are financial stability and mental health.

Actor and writer Chirag Garg says that everyone tries to manage finances by doing some or the other work including corporate gigs and ads. “In my case, fortunately, writing happened and my finances are sorted for now,” he shares.

Of course, it is a hard task staying positive in a field which has more supply than demand. As Malviya says, there is no guaranteed success in this arena. “Ten years hence, it may be that I don’t reach where I wanted to be or I may achieve the kind of success that I did not even dream of. It’s a gamble but if you love your art, then you invest yourself in it,” she says, adding that she has seen a lot of friends break down in the process. “There have been nights when I haven’t slept. As an outsider, it’s a much longer process. Nobody sees your story behind the glory. It takes a lot of effort to stay positive, to sit at home on many occasions without work and to keep working on your craft,” she adds.

Garg says that as you may keep trying for your big break, you cannot get disillusioned. “I know that it might happen that I will die with no one knowing my name as an actor. You have to realise that acting is a part of your life but it’s not your entire life,” he says. Accepting this reality keeps him sane, he adds.