Anushka Sharma's recently launched web series, Pataal Lok is grabbing a lot of attention. The show's strong plot, performances and the writing is being applauded but what's also keeping it in the limelight are the controversies surrounding it.
Initially, the web series had landed in trouble after a Gorkha community group filed a complaint against Sharma - who is also the series producer - with the NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) for allegedly using ‘insulting, demeaning and derogatory’ language for a Nepali speaking woman in the second episode.
And then, a section of people on social media started criticising the casting directors of the series- Anmol Ahuja and actor Abhishek Banerjee (essaying character of Hathoda Tyagi), for casting people who work in their agency as employees.
While Abhishek Banerjee has clarified that it is ultimately the director's call to choose who he wants to see in the role, and the question should be asked to him and not the casting agency, popular actor Harrsh A Singh, who had been casted for his film Tu Mera Sunday by Anmol and Abhishek, has come forward to defend them.
Talking to SpotboyE.com exclusively, Harrsh said, "I know Anmol very well, he has been casting for many many years now. He casted me for my second film, Tu Mera Sunday. So, after Pataal Lok came out, I saw him posting a long message on Facebook explaining how the actors were casted for the series. And I was taken aback that why should a casting director like go out and defend himself in front of the people who are accusing him for casting his people. They should understand that the director is not a fool and he has his own vision if he is directing a product."
Harrsh doesn't deny the fact though that there are people from the agency who have been casted in the series. "I have just seen the first episode where I see a girl who is playing a hawaldar and I know that girl has been working for Abhishek and Anmol for many many years. I have heard that there are other people as well. But what I feel is even if they have put their own people, at the end of the day, it is the director who makes the decision. They must be hardly having 7-8 people in their team and I don't think they can show only 1 person's audition- at least 10 people audition they will show. The way Paatal Lok has come out successfully it shows that the director made the right choice."
Harrsh concluded by saying that people like Abhishek Banerjee and Anmol Ahuja, who have done casting for such great projects from so many years, don't need to defend themselves."
image source:-cinespeaks/dailynews/wikipedia/Prashant Golecha