Moulding the actors of Mataash

There are a lot of

filmmakers

in

Kannada cinema

who promote new talent, but often that is limited to one or two members of the cast. Director

SD Arvinda

, though, has gone multiple steps ahead and made a film,

Mataash

, with a predominantly fresh cast, all of whom had to be found through auditions and put through the grind of workshops before they set foot on set.
“As I was writing Mataash, I realised that I needed multiple characters, preferrably newcomers with raw talent and energy, who could be moulded the way I wanted. Also, since the story doesn’t have a hero to drive it, and all the characters are protagonists, it made sense to have newbies instead of established faces, as I wanted them to be as natural as possible,” says Arvinda.
Finding them, though, was easier said than done. “My team had to arrange auditions at which we gave participants multiple scenarios to enact and improvise. We judged them based on their reactions to situations, the confidence with which they took it on, etc.,” says the director.
Once he zeroed in on the newbies, Arvinda then arranged workshops for them over the following week, during which they were taught theatrical movements, navarasas, buffonery, body language and voice culture, among others, by experts like Rajesh PI, Siddhanth Sundar and Sunil Kumar Sudhakar, among others. “We had sessions for the cast, including those who had some previous film experience, like Samarth Narasimharaju, Raaghu Raamanakoppa or Aishwarya Shindogi. These sessions worked as ice-breakers for the young actors. Since everyone was a protagonist, each of them was aware that he/she had to perform,” says Arvinda.