Hansal Mehta says he had ‘no pressure’ to cast a big star for Scoop: ‘Not denying value of a star, but…’
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta chases stories, not stars. The director, whose Scoop is garnering acclaim, says he was under no pressure to get a star on-board his recently released Netflix series.
Inspired by Jigna Vora’s biographical book Behind The Bars In Byculla: My Days in Prison, Scoop is created by Hansal Mehta and Thappad co-writer Mrunmayee Lagoo. The series is headlined by Karishma Tanna, starring as Jagruti Pathak, an ambitious crime journalist, who becomes a murder suspect.
In an interview with indianexpress.com, when asked if there was a pressure to get a star on board for Scoop, especially because Mehta was coming off a highly successful series like Scam: 1992, the filmmaker said he had no such pressure to mount his latest original.
“I don’t think we fought about the choice. Karishma or Harman. We spoke about it and (it happened). There was no pressure as such. One of the reasons why Scam worked was because we took an actor nobody knew. So the character became bigger than the person playing it. I am not denying the value of a star, but in certain stories, the character becomes the star.
“Karishma was striking. In her audition, there was this hustle. She had a very arresting presence, she looked wonderful on-screen. There was something about her, there was a hunger. So, somehow Jagruti’s hunger and Karishma’s hunger juxtaposed. I saw that. It has always been an instinctive thing. I enjoy casting as much as I enjoy shooting,” he added.
In an earlier interview with indianexpress.com, Karishma Tanna had opened up about resonating with her character’s ambition as she felt she was going through “hunger” to prove herself as an actor and hustling for it.
“I will do everything I can… Being in the industry for so long and still being relevant is a big thing. I didn’t realise until Scoop’s writer Mrunmayee Lagoo noted. I continuously hustled my way. There are ups and downs in every actor’s life, but I have tried to be relevant in the industry. That, ‘Hey, I am here! I still have not got what I deserve,'” Tanna had said.
