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'Sudip sir keeps telling me that what I have done is very Hollywood.'
One day during her six-month stay in Nagaland, Nikita Grover broke her handbag and went looking for a cobbler in Dimapur.
As the cobbler stitched the handle with his weathered hands and yellow nails, she watched him intently.
He was just the man she was looking for.
He did not know Hindi or English. She did not speak Nagamese, so Anungla Zoe Longkumer, the Naga researcher accompanying her, asked the question on Nikita's behalf.
The question being: Would he audition for a role in Paatal Lok 2?
Taken aback, the cobbler declined to come to the hotel for an audition, but generously chatted with them about his life.
Nikita and Anungla went back to him that evening and cajoled him into a small audition. He agreed.
The cobbler did not make the cut, but the show gave Nikita Grover the chance to meet many interesting non-actors in her quest for "that one right face for that one scene" in Paatal Lok 2, one of the best ensemble casts we have seen in recent times.
The 'non-actors' who had never seen a film camera bring a genuine earthiness to the show. They may appear in small roles, but you notice them and want to know who they are.
"I was literally catching people off the road. I would stop those who caught my eye, introduce myself, show them a trailer of Paatal Lok 1 and ask if they would be interested," says Grover, the casting director of Paatal Lok, 1 and 2 and Kohra , 1 and 2, two riveting OTT shows whose characters stand out for brilliance in the common place.
Set in Nagaland, the second season needed about 80 local actors and Grover wanted to pick people who spoke the language, belonged to the milieu and carried authenticity.
She scoured college campuses, music schools, restaurants, markets, even went to people's homes. "Sixty per cent of my time went in having meals with people trying to convince them to act. I have been to many Naga houses and eaten food. I love their pork!" she chuckles.
When a young Naga boy was required for a tiny role, she found 'the right one' playing on the street.
"I asked him to take me to his mother and requested her." [He played the role of young Daniel.]
Theyie Keditsu, an English professor from Kohima, was spotted at a restaurant and offered a role. She plays the dignified Grace Reddy.
Naga rapper L C Sekhose plays Reuben Thom.
Kaguirong Gonmei, a chef at Nagaland Bhavan in New Delh, was selected to play politician Jonathan Thom. In fact, he is among the first characters to appear in the opening scenes in the series.
A man who had lost both his hands plays a tribal leader.
"I took time to win ordinary people's trust because people take time to decide if you are genuine," says Grover who has cast about 400-450 actors for both seasons of Paatal Lok.
For characters from north India, she went to Delhi, Rohtak and Patna, even scouting grocery shops.
'Role karogey?' she would ask, and a couple of real life shop helpers in Haryana and Delhi found themselves as watchmen on the show.
A young boy in Delhi was found through an NGO that teaches poor children. He is the son of a daily wager. He hasn't yet seen the show. I have to go back and show it to him because he doesn't have an OTT subscription," she says talking about Guddu, the boy who sets lead character Hathiram Choudhury on the trail from Delhi to Nagaland.
"I want to tell him, 'Look, how great you have done'! I want to live up to that feeling all the time. This is what I am looking for."
She made a trip to Jaideep Ahlawat's college in Rohtak to find characters.
Rediff.com's longstanding contributor Aseem Chhabra appears in a small role with an Aseemesque line!
When writer Sudip Sharma sent her the script, Nikita knew only one Naga actor Merenla Imsong based in Mumbai whom she followed on Instagram.
Imsong plays Rose Lizo who has very few speaking lines, but her eyes, face, gait all contribute to a fine performance.
"Sudip sir gives you time to find his characters. 'Tu kar,' he says and trusts me. Other directors don't give you that liberty."
"I have worked in casting for a long time and directors will say 'aur dikhao', but with Sudip sir I have to show only one person and he will go with it," she says of showrunner Sudip Sharma who grew up in Assam.
"For Pataal Lok 1, he sent me to Imphal to look for the very difficult role of Chini, a trans woman."
In an interesting twist, three film directors feature in acting roles in Paatal Lok 2 -- Jahnu Barua, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri and winner of multiple National Film Awards;
Nagesh Kukunoor, winner of two National Awards and maker of some memorable movies, and
Assamese director Kenny Basumatary who dropped out of IIT to pursue cinema.
Getting Jahnu Barua to act was Director Avinash Dhaware's idea, Kukunoor was Sharma's and Basumatary was Nikita's.
"We were not sure if Jahnu sir would agree because he is such a big name and has never acted before, but he did."
Grover herself has a role in the series as an endearing salwar-kurta-dupatta wearing, plain-speaking Dilli constable.
"Sudip sir gave me the role because he had seen me give cues to actors during auditions, especially the difficult character of Chini in Pataal Lok 1," says Nikita who had come to Mumbai from Delhi to be an actor in her twenties.
"I would have been horrible if I had acted then. I was conscious about my body, but now I have no problem about sitting like a potato and scratching my leg in one of the scenes."
Grover started as an intern for FM radio in Delhi which gave her the opportunity to see a lot of theatre.
She did plays and tried for the National School of Drama making it to the final round.
She then came to Mumbai and started casting for ad films and worked with Onir on ads like for Parachute and Kwality Walls.
"Ads take a lot of time. I used to audition 50 odd people for a scene."
She then assisted Casting Directors Abhishek Banerjee and Anmol Ahuja and subsequently came onboard the Paatal Lok series.
"Paatal Lok 2 was different from what I had done before because the territory was unknown. Sudip sir re-reads the scripts with each department 2-3 times and you can call him anytime to ask 'Sir, yeh samajh nahi aa raha hai'."
The lead characters Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Tillotama Shome, Gul Panag were selected by the director and writer.
These characters are the core of Paatal Lok, but the supporting cast brings a unique luminescence that stays with you.
When people congratulate Nikita for the casting of Paatal Lok and Kohra, she does not quite know how to react.
"I don't want to take myself too seriously. I would rather remain in the space and continue doing challenging work."
"Sudip sir keeps telling me that what I have done is very Hollywood. It is not done in India," she says with a chuckle.
"I tell him, 'sir if you are saying then it must be be believable'."