Hrithik Roshan is all set to play math wizard Anand Kumar in a biographical-drama, titled Super 30. Now as the movie is underway, casting director Mukesh Chhabra is in search of actors who can play Hrithik’s students in the movie since Hrithik’s character will be coaching students for IIT JEE, the entrance examinations for the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs).
Apparently, filmmaker Vikas Bahl and Mukesh Chhabra have narrowed down the list of potential actors from 15,000 to 78 and are currently holding workshops for their upcoming biopic on math whiz Anand Kumar.
“We want to cast kids in the age group of 15-17 and have auditioned over 15,000 already. The hunt started a few months ago after zeroing in on potential actors from Bihar, Varanasi, Bhopal, Mumbai and Delhi. After a series of selections, we brought the number down to 400, then, 200, 150 and now, 78 kids are finalised, with whom we are conducting workshops for the final 30 that we hope to finalise in a month’s time,” informs Mukesh, whose past discoveries include the nine kids for Nitesh Tiwari and Vikas’s 2011 comedy, Chillar Party.
Considering Mukesh is also known for casting Harshaali Malhotra for Kabir Khan’s Salman Khan-starrer 2015 Eid release, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Nitesh’s Dangal girls — Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar, we believe he needs a star quality in the kids who could play Hrithik’s students in the film.
“We want kids who look as real as those from the institute. For that, we went to the interiors, slums and several NGOs. You can’t teach kids how to act, all we could do is give them the basic confidence to perform.” Mukesh explains.
Meanwhile, Vikas marvels at the amount of untapped talent in India. “The realisation encouraged us to do an even more extensive search in order to include those from varied backgrounds and towns.
The pool of actors from which we are short-listing is the most appropriate for us, as Anandji’s students also come from diverse backgrounds,” the director asserts.
Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films’ Super 30 is slated to release on November 23, 2018
