Onir reveals how Ashish Bisht auditioned nearly twenty times for ‘Shab’

Director Onir’s ‘Shab‘ is all set to hit the theatres on June 30. From the hands of someone who has helmed a beautiful film like ‘My Brother… Nikhil’, ‘Shab’ surely looks like a story that portrays modern-day dilemmas perfectly. Starring seasoned actresses like Raveena Tandon from Bollywood and Arpita Chatterjee from Bengali film industry, along with the newbie Ashish Bisht, ‘Shab’ is Onir’s storytelling of urban India, with all its emotions.

While speaking to leading daily, Onir revealed a bit about Ashish Bisht, the newbie who is playing the role of a model who wants to scale the heights of profession, and has dreams in his eyes. Onir revealed how Ashish was every bit like his character, and still is, and that he auditioned not once, not twice, but approximately 15-20 times for the role, and came back with a harder preparation, every time he was rejected.

Onir also revealed that Ashish had auditioned even for ‘I Am’. “The centre point of the film is Ashish Bisht, who plays a small-town boy who comes to the big city with dreams, and the city changes him. For this role, I conducted auditions in so many cities — Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore… even Pakistan, when things were better! (Laughs) I wanted the actor playing this role to have a certain vulnerability. I had first auditioned Ashish a long time ago for ‘I Am’ (2010) and he was actually rejected, but I saw a spark in him,” said Onir.

He further said, “So we auditioned him for ‘Shab’ in 2013, but while he was good, he still lacked something. During that time, we auditioned about 200 people and Ashish alone gave 15-20 auditions for the part! It went on for nearly a year-and-a-half and I loved the spirit of the guy… he never gave up. He would always say, ‘Okay Sir, I will come back next time and work harder’. For the longest time, during the auditions, his ringtone was ‘Chaand taare tod laoon’! (Laughs) What he plays in ‘Shab’ is exactly what his life is all about.” (Also Read: ‘Shab’: Check out some breathtaking stills of Ashish Bisht and Arpita Chatterjee from song ‘Aawari’)

Now that is an inspiring story of never giving up.

Let’s see the intricacies of modern lives unravel themselves on screen, on June 30, when ‘Shab’ is released.

Kadambari Srivastava

Grammar Nazi, word weaver, dreamer, bibliophile, technophile, caffeine addict, foodie, shuttling shopaholic! Mash it in a Bollywood recipe and voila! Pushpa, you’ve got her!