Abhishek Banerjee on scouting actors who became big names and working with Varun Dhawan and Kartik Aaryan-Janhvi Kapoor
Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 12, 2020)

In 2010, Abhishek Banerjee got a head-start in Bollywood as a casting director and went on to scout talent for films like No One Killed Jessica, The Dirty Picture and Gabbar Is Back. It wasn’t until 2018 that he came into his own as an actor, the goofy sidekick Jana in the Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor’s horror-comedy Stree. “I was rejected in the audition but Dinesh Vijan (producer) liked my tape better than the guy who was selected,” he shares, adding that a lot of people believed he did the casting for this film as well. “When they call me for meetings, things get awkward when I correct them,” he laughs.

Abhishek is also often mistaken as one of the writers of Anushka Sharma’s horror film Pari though he was not associated with it in any capacity. “I get calls from filmmakers to write scripts. When I tell them it wasn’t me, they accuse me of lying,” he chuckles. Coincidentally, he had teased the real writer of the film (who happens to be his namesake) about the potential confusion but never thought it would come true.

This year, he’s working in two Karan Johar productions—Dostana 2 with Kartik Aaryan and Janhvi Kapoor and Mr Lele, fronted by Varun Dhawan. By his own admission, his innings as an actor started earlier than he had anticipated. “After all this time lapsed, I figured I would start my acting career like Boman Irani (who debuted while in his 40s),” he deadpans, excited to start work with Varun next month. “He has quirks and innocence working for him, like most of my characters. Even Shashank (Khaitan, director) sir insists we rehearse together.”

In Dostana 2, Abhishek joins Kartik and Janhvi, as “a quirky, naïve Punjabi boy”. The second schedule of the film, which marks the film debut of TV actor Lakshya, wrapped up in December.

Besides being associated with some big projects as a casting director, Abhishek also auditioned actors who went on to become big names. “I am proud to say that Siddhant Chaturvedi (MC Sher in Gully Boy) is my find,” he beams. Then, there was Vicky Kaushal, long before he won the National Award for playing a braveheart army man in Uri: The Surgical Strike. “When I was an associate, I auditioned him for a part in (Raj Kumar Gupta’s Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan-starrer) Ghanchakkar. Everyone was intrigued by him as he was (action director) Sham Kaushal’s son. I instantly knew that he’d become a star one day. Also, before sharing screen space with Rajkummar, I had tested him for a role in the 2010 film Knock Out, which was eventually played by Apoorva Lakhia.”

Hiren Kotwani (BOMBAY TIMES; February 11, 2014)

Hollywood Studios are increasingly active in watching what Bollywood is up to these days. And it’s not just the concept and stories they are possessive about. even if Bollywood registers a title similar to that of a western film, it is proving to be dangerous.
 
On top of mind is the example of a Hollywood studio asking Gordhan Tanwani, the producer of Action Jackson to change his title or reportedly face the consequences for title infringement because they had registered it for the Indian market as well.

Shekhar Suman acquired the copyright to remake Awake before starting work on Heartless. Obviously, he didn’t want last minute litigation like the producers of Jodi Breakers, who were sued for copying the French film, L’Arnacoeur aka Heartbreakers. Or like the makers of Knock Out who also faced a litigation for copying Phone Booth, a few days before its release.

Before Action Jackson, the makers of R… Rajkumar were issued a notice whereby they had to take out the name ‘Rambo’ from their title. And stick to a plain R...Rajkumar. Calling this title battle a new development, Gordhan says, “My title has been in public domain for about a year. Warner’s Indian company has also made films here after registering their titles with our film associations. When they’re working here, they work as per association norms. If they had any problem, they should have referred it to the association. Why send a letter through their California-based lawyers and give 48 hours to reply?”

Ravi Chopra, who was making Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai with Govinda, Lara Dutta and Tabu had a tough time dealing with the copyright case by the producers of the Hollywood film, My Cousin Vinny, who claimed that the Hindi filmmaker had copied their content.

Producer Ratan Jain concedes that it is wrong to copy western films without acquiring the rights. However, he feels that the foreign studios should not extend their vigilance to Hindi film titles, “When an association registers a title for a Hindi film, if the same title being used by a Teugu film for a different subject, it’s okay. Because it’s a different ball game in a country like India. If English titles are copyrighted, then what will our producers do? Not just Hindi, but many films made in South Indian and other regional languages have English titles.”

Another producer concedes that title tattles are no big deal. “If copyright has been infringed by plagiarising content, then it is a case. Just having a title for a film doesn’t mean that no one can use it for life or you need someone’s permission. There’s no compulsion here that American laws have to be followed in India. It’s up to the producers to decide whether they want to contest the Hollywood studio’s claim or give in.”