Cinema had always tugged at her heart; it is still as endearing to her. Thanks, in part, to her mother, a self-proclaimed movie buff. Shruti Mahajan, now one of India’s most respected casting directors, had never really planned to step into the filmy world.
“I sleepwalked through this journey,” Mahajan told TMS. “I never thought I’d be part of the movie industry. I come from a conservative, middle-class family where education was everything. My father was an IPS officer, and there was no space for dreaming about films.” But she knew she wasn’t cut out for a “9 to 5 gig”.
Mahajan, along with actor Fatima Sana Shaikh, director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari, and filmmaker Neha Parti Matiyani, recently attended an event organised by the RPSG Media Group and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in New Delhi. The programme was based on highlighting women’s role in the Indian film industry.
A graduate of Lady Shri Ram College, Mahajan worked in the corporate world before making the decision to quit it. “I took a sabbatical to raise my daughter. But once she grew up a little, I realised I needed to become who I truly was.” That paved her way to Mumbai, where she started assisting casting director Shanoo Sharma at Yash Raj Films.
The beginning
Mahajan has not been to a film-school. Speaking of her early days in the industry, she pointed out how casting wasn’t seen as a dedicated profession. “There were just two or three names you could count on your fingers. There was no formal training, and it (casting) was only established on your instincts. So, you either have it or you don’t.”
Over the past decade, however, Mahajan has noticed a shift in how casting directors are perceived. With the rise of streaming platforms and a growing appetite for fresh stories, casting has become necessary to how stories are told. She explained that good casting, to her, “means finding someone who brings life, layers, and honesty to the role.”
She also stressed that casting decisions are increasingly bringing up a change in representation. “From body types to regional and linguistic diversity, the industry is becoming more inclusive,” she remarked, referring to movies like Gangubai Kathiawadi, which she has also worked for. “But we still have a long way to go. We continue to glorify toxic love and other themes not suitable for society.”
However, the rising viewership for such content is also equally responsible for its popularity. Hence, the change has to come from the audience too, she expressed.
Breaking the glass ceiling
Mahajan’s most recent project was, Heeramandi, in which she worked with popular Indian film director and screenwriter, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. “It was the biggest high of my career,” she says. The show casting, however, did not go as she had expected. “Even though the women were ready to play side characters, the real challenge was casting the men,” she added. According to Mahajan, Bollywood is not free of patriarchy. “Many male actors hesitate to be part of a female-led story,” she says.
Additionally, movies that Mahajan took up as a casting director are Padmaavat, Pad Man, Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, and others. Mahajan remembers the first time when her parents saw her name on the big screen. “They didn’t always understand what I was doing. For them, it was like, ‘Doesn’t the director do the casting?’ But when they saw ‘Shruti Mahajan – Casting Director’ in the credits, I knew they understood. That moment was everything.”