Pitching young and raw talent against screen veterans may seem like a huge risk for any film, but for director Leena Yadav and producer Ambika A Hinduja, it only meant showing interesting and fresh chemistry on screen, says a media report.
Spanning three generations of actors — from 67-year-old legends Amitabh Bachchan and Sir Ben Kingsley to R Madhavan to newcomers Dhruv Ganesh, Siddharth Kher, Vaibhav Talwar and the youngest of ‘em all Shraddha Kapoor — in Serendipity Films' forthcoming thriller Teen Patti, Leena took it up like a challenge only to realise that working with such a varied cast has been an experience full of positive surprises.
Dismissing the casting as a risk, Leena insists that the film is one example of young energy blending beautifully with maturity and experience. “Well, I didn't have just the best of both the worlds, but all the worlds,” she smiles. “Mr Bachchan and Madhavan made the young actors so comfortable as co-actors that the generation gap failed to rear its head on the sets. Their excitement and energy levels made them one of the young ones,” she points out. Highlighting that it was in fact Big B who infused the sets with the maximum energy and broke the ice, Ambika adds, “Mr Bachchan is not only an icon, but also an institution. Although the debutants are born in another era, the encouragement that they received from their seniors was heart-warming and it immediately, bridged the generation gap. Madhavan, too, is a versatile actor without a doubt.” And while the duo are all praises for the stars, they are equally impressed with the dedication of the four newcomers.
“Each of them is very different from the other, both on screen and off it. They are unique in their own ways and that's also what made it more interesting,” they say. According to Leena, as actors, “Dhruv has a brilliant emotional connect, while Siddharth adapts himself really well to the character. Vaibhav has a beautiful intensity, while Shraddha has this interesting mix of spontaneity, yet trained performance.” Besides, the director reveals that they were so thoroughly trained that they could face the biggies purely on their confidence of performance. “Of course, they were in awe of Big B, but the camaraderie they shared seemed to be of good pals,” she adds.
But weren't they wary at all about the newcomers being able to live up to the pressures of facing screen giants like Bachchan and Sir Ben? “We were told that it was a gamble, but to be honest, we never looked at it that way. Besides, if it's a well-calculated risk, then it ddoesn't remain a gamble, does it?” Well, that's something the audience will have to decide when Teen Patti hits the theatres on February 26.
