At the
tender age of nine, Omkar Parab from Mapusa was bitten by the acting bug, when he played a role in the
Abhishek Bachchan starrer ‘Dum Maaro Dum’. Since then, he has acted in Varun
Carvalho’s video ‘Set Me Free’ and numerous advertisements and short films like
‘Bunk’ and ‘Iqbal’.
But now he’s ready for the big stage. As a
lead actor in a Bollywood movie. He says, “After a lot of auditions, rejections
and humiliation, I’m lucky to get a chance to showcase my talent in an upcoming
Bollywood film as the first lead. The shoot of this film will commence post
Diwali. The film will be showcased in theatres across India.”
While auditioning for this film, Omkar had
to go through four rounds. The first was selection and shortlisting, the second
was a look test, the third and fourth were with lines to be delivered in anger
and humour.
“Under Amit Asnodkar in Goa, I use to act in TV ads and have
done over 20 movies in which I played character and supporting roles. Soon I
started meeting people from the same line and some like Aditya Bang and Shivam
Sharma helped me create short films to showcase my talent,” says Omkar, son of
Mohini and Laxman.
Mumbai was a whole new experience for him. “For an outsider, the
dream of working in Bollywood is next to impossible. In a country of more than
1.2 billion people, making a space for yourself in the film industry is
extremely tough. Thousands land up in Mumbai every day to pursue their dreams
and thousands return without realising them,” says the young actor who’s
completed a certified course under Barry John Acting Studio in Mumbai.
Other Goans connected with Bollywood explain how it isn’t really
easy to find a foothold, let alone get a lead role in the tough Mumbai film
industry
Smita Nasdodkar is a casting coordinator, who has been in this
field for over 18 years. Originally from Ribandar, she is now based in Porvorim
as it is centrally located to most of her actors and shoots. She helps casting
directors to complete their cast for the shoots, sometimes providing nearly
20-30 artistes as secondary cast. “We also provide character artistes, who have
to deliver dialogues in a scene. The most recent work was Sujoy Ghosh’s Netflix
original series, ‘Typewriter’. I also acted in the series with a three-day
shoot in Goa and one-day shoot in Mumbai,” says Smita.
Speaking about finding young talent in Goa, she says, “It was
difficult initially but now, since I have my own sources, it is easy to get in
touch with actors. It is difficult to find hardworking and talented actors in
Goa. In Mumbai, if you call for an audition, there will be nearly 200-300
people who will turn up. Here, if I call actors, they get back to me only if
there is a big name associated with the project.” says Smita.
Amit Asnodkar has been the go-to-person for Rohit Shetty films in Goa. In this line for 15 years, Amit feels that awareness is still lacking in Goa. “Goans are not lacking in talent but there is no awareness about auditions. Once I pass on proper information about an audition, there is a lot of excitement among the young actors. For all the major projects that come to Goa, the main casting is done in Mumbai and the other artistes are selected in Goa. Sometimes, I get a call a month in advance and sometimes just a week before, informing about their requirements. Recently, we did the casting coordination for Netflix’s new anthology ‘Ghost Stories’, consisting of four short films directed by Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhter and Dibakar Banerjee,” says Asnodkar.