Loveleen Tandan and Danny Boyle shooting Slumdog Millionaire

What did you do before Slumdog Millionaire?

I have been casting for films. I started with Monsoon Wedding. I was assisting Mira (Nair) on the film. It so happened that I ended up casting the whole film. Mira told me that casting was a very specific job and she gave me credit for it. It meant nothing to me at that stage, but work started coming in from the west. People would get in touch with me if they were looking for Asian actors from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. If the director appealed to me and I thought that I could learn something from the director, I would take on the project. I have done a host of Mira’s films including Vanity Fair, The Namesake and Migration. I also did Brick Lane two years back. Throughout though, I was inching towards making my own film.

What would the job of a casting director entail?

In India we don’t recognise the skills of a casting director. In the West, it’s a career. What you do basically is to pick actors to play particular parts in films. A casting director would call in three or four or 10 actors who might suit a particular part. It is a very creative process. The work starts much before that of a production designer or a cameraman. A casting director is one of the first people who gets and reads the script. In my case, it becomes a far more interesting process because the people involved are mostly foreigners who are trying to mount a project locally. My input as an Indian is of value to them as well. I can advise the director on whether a particular scene will work in our cultural context, in our linguistic context. Also, whether some fact is true or authentic... It’s a powerful decision-making process. I get a really free hand and I am able to explore all the ideas to the fullest.

Since you cast for both The Namesake and Brick Lane, can you share your experiences of casting in Calcutta?

I have not done the local casting for The Namesake. My main contribution there was Irrfan Khan... to pick him for a non-Bengali part. For Brick Lane, I had to cast Chanu, Nazneen’s charming husband. I spent a month in Bengal looking at fantastic actors across the board, from films to theatre. I couldn’t find the right age group or the right type and finally I picked Satish Kaushik. It was very against my grain but he fit the part for the western audience.

Dev Patel with Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire

What was the starting point for Slumdog Millionaire?

It started with a phone call from Tabrez Noorani, who is the line producer of the film. It was my last day in Mumbai... I had just finished working on Mira’s Migration and was coming back to my hometown, Delhi. He wanted me to meet this producer who was in town. In fact, I met the person on the way to the airport not very keen to immediately take up another project. There I learnt that the script was being written by Simon Beaufoy and it was to be directed by Danny Boyle. I was really excited. The story sounded very Indian in spirit... I read the script on the flight and by the time I got off, I wanted to do the film. I came on board as casting director in March 2007. The shooting started in November.

What was the process of casting for slum children?

The casting was the most difficult process of the film. There are three main characters in the film — Jamal, Latika and Salim. They needed to be played by nine actors in different age groups. You had to match their looks, their spirits, body language... I haven’t seen a film where a part has been played by three actors so close in age. You are not casting a three-year-old and a 30-year-old and a 80-year-old. You are casting literally like three years gap! It seemed too close for comfort. It was a challenge and I took it on.

At what stage did it become much more than a casting job?

While I was casting, the film was entirely in English. It seemed really artificial casting six-year-old kids for parts in English to play slum kids. That’s when I told Danny that we need to rethink this. If we were to do this in Mumbai-styled Hindi language, the way kids really speak, it would make a huge difference. And he said it wasn’t possible. I did a scratch tape with kids which he really liked. He wanted me to write the Hindi dialogues, which is around 28-30 per cent of the film. Then as we were inching close towards the shooting of the film, he said I should come on board as a co-director. He wasn’t familiar with the language and he wanted the performances to be up to the mark. He was very encouraging... he said, you can do this and you should do this. He was very particular that he didn’t want to do the film from the western point of view and show things half of which don’t happen.

Were there specific scenes which you directed?

I did a lot of second-unit shooting for the film which has all been on my own. Apart from that, where the main unit is concerned, I have directed the children in the film, which is one-third of the film. It was essentially a collaborative effort. We were doing it all together except the second-unit stuff, which had a lot of ambience shots of Mumbai.

Why did you cast Anil Kapoor when Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan had hosted Kaun Banega Crorepati?

I never went to them. The reason being it’s a fictional character. It’s not Amitabh or Shah Rukh at all. This particular part, Prem Kumar, is not a nice guy. He is a negative character. Casting Shah Rukh or Amitabh in the part would imply that these guys are capable of the kind of manipulation that is shown in the film. I wasn’t ready to watch them like that, forget the rest of the world. These guys are adored for what they do on the show. So it didn’t make sense.

Are you happy with the post-release strategy of the makers of the film? Would you have ideally wanted more attention?

Most people don’t know this but I have been travelling with the film. I came back one month ago to dub the film in Hindi because no one else could have done that. See, Danny is the director of the film and he honoured me by making me the co-director. I have no reason to feel bad, really. This is a huge stepping-stone for me. The focus is to make my own project.

How well, do you think, Indians will accept Slumdog Millionaire?

It’s going to be very exciting. I am waiting for the January 23 release because I believe it will be the true acid test for the film. I am not sure. I am anxious. I would like to be surprised. It’s gone down really well with Indians abroad. But how it turns out in India will be very interesting. After that I want to detox from Slumdog and work on my own idea.

Pratim D. Gupta
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