Prashant Neel talks about his casting experience for his first independent web series Divorce Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega

From assisting renowned Casting Directors in Hindi TV shows to casting independently for television and web projects, Casting Director Prashant Neel has come a long way. With shows like Albeli Kahani Pyar KI, Kuldeepak, Gulaam, Zindagi ki Mehek, Dil De Ke Deko, Siddhant, Meri Durga, Jaat na Poocho Prem Ki, Lal Ishq, Choti Sardarni, Maati Se Bandhi Dor, Prashant has had a challenging journey in the industry.

Prashant believes that casting is a thankless job, especially on television where due credits are not given. Recently, Prashant successfully handled the casting for Shobhna Desai’s web series Divorce Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega, which premiered on ZEE5. The series had Abigail, Rishab Chadha, Chaitali Jadhav, Krunal Srimali and others in the cast.

Talking about this journey of casting for the series, Prashant spoke at length saying, “The casting journey for this series was a challenging job because we did not want TV faces. Yet, we have some TV faces in it, because we needed a blend of experience and new actors.”

Talking about the difference in casting for TV and web projects, Prashant averred, “In TV, we need to give a lot of options and handle many filters. But on the web, we need to deal with the Director and Producer. If they like the option given, they are more or less locked.”

Prashant’s first show for the web platform was Jamai 2.0. “In Jamai 2.0, I gave some tertiary characters. However, Divorce Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega is my first independent web series. I had a great experience casting for the series”.

Prashant aspires to become a Producer in future. He likes working with new faces and giving them the platform to shine. “It is a nice feeling working with experienced actors. But when we work with newcomers, they are usually supportive, listen to the approach and carry them out well.”

Prashant feels saddened when veteran actors who prefer to keep themselves away from social media, get less work when compared to the fresh faces who have a good social media standing. “This trend is prevalent where fresh faces/influencers with a good social media following get preferred for work. This is because the idea is to reach out to the masses in a big way using the actor’s social media standing. It is sad to see talent not getting enough scope amid this growing trend.”

Going forward, Prashant eyes casting for films and is working towards that!!