Vidya Balan-starrer Bobby Jasoos, had actors from Hyderabad theatre group
Shooting alongside Vidya Balan: (Standing, from left) Krheash, Deepti, Sumeet, Vinay, Meenaxi and Gangadhar; (Sitting, from left) Tejas, Sangeeta, Aditi, Raina, Rita and Sundeep are among the 17, who were part of the film. (Photo: Deccan Chronicle)
Hyderabad: That Vidya Balan was shooting for her upcoming film Bobby Jasoos on the streets of Hyderabad was known to many, but a lesser known fact is that the film also had an almost all-Hyderabadi cast. Sutradhar, a city theatre group, was approached for the casting of the film and had about 17 actors who got to act in a Bollywood venture, sharing screen space with Vidya Balan.
“We were approached by the production house, Born Free Entertainment, and were asked to provide the cast for Bobby Jasoos as the entire film was to be shot in Hyderabad and the film’s language would be Hyderabadi. But later, a few actors also had to go to Mumbai,” says Vinay Varma, who played the hero Ali Fazal’s father.
Vinay Varma, Sangeeta Pamnani, Raina Rao, Sundeep Hemnaoni, Tejas Mahajan, Gangadhar Pandey, Rama Rao Jadhav, Praveen Goel, Deepti Girotra, Rita Ghosh, Meenaxi Jena, Aditi Sharma, Girish Raj, Asha Singh, Sumeet Pant, Mahima Agarwal and Basheer Saaki were the 17 actors who played various roles in the film.
Although this was a big project, this wasn’t something new for Sutradhar. “The first time we cast for a film was a Telugu one titled Nee Todu Kaavali, that was Charmee’s debut film. Over time, our actors have worked for various movies, prominent one being Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Café. We have also provided the cast for National Award winning director Janaki Vishwanathan’s Yeh Hai Bakrapur,” says Vinay.
Tejas Mahajan, who plays Vidya Balan’s friend in the film, debuts in Bollywood with this movie. “The 13 days of shoot that I was supposed to be a part of were all with Vidya Balan. To be in the same frame as her, to enact in front of a crowd of more than 200, who gathered as we shot near Charminar and Sultan Bazaar, was amazing. There was a scene where I had to drive a bike with Vidya Balan sitting behind me. People kept clicking photographs and screaming out to Vidya as we shot in Charminar,” says Tejas.
The production house headed by Dia Mirza and Saahil Sangha also made sure that the team was comfortable. “The director, Samar Shaikh, gave us all the liberty to improvise a little. Vidya slogged for this movie like a newcomer trying to perfect the Hyderabadi nuance,” says Vinay.
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