Remember Hathauda Tyagi of 'Paatal Lok' and Jana of 'Stree' and 'Stree 2'? These characters played by Abhishek Banerjee will always be memorable. But do you know that despite making his acting debut much later, Abhishek has been associated with the film industry for more than 19 years now? Yes! apart from being an actor, Abhishek is also a famous casting director and has cast artists like Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan, to Shraddha Kapoor and Zeeshan Ayyub. Today, on the occasion of his 40th birthday, let us know how, from making others heroes, he himself became one.
Abhishek first appeared in Aamir Khan's 'Rang De Basanti'
Born on May 5, 1985 in Kharagpur, West Bengal, Abhishek Banerjee's father, Alok Banerjee, was a former assistant commandant in the Central Industrial Security Force. Abhishek graduated from Delhi, after which he studied computer science. However, he left it midway and then studied English Honours from Kirori Mal College, Delhi, that too, only because of the theatre group 'The Players' here. While studying at Kirori Mal College, Abhishek had decided to make a career in acting. He worked in the DD show School Days and was first seen in Aamir Khan's film 'Rang De Basanti' in 2006. In this film, he was one of the students who auditioned for a documentary role.
A series of failures
After this, Abhishek Banerjee auditioned for Anurag Kashyap's film 'Dev D' in Delhi, where he met veteran casting director Gautam Kishanchandani and his assistant at that time, Basan Wala. However, Abhishek failed in the audition. But Gautam told him to come to Mumbai. After this, with the dream of becoming an actor, Abhishek reached Mumbai from Delhi in the year 2008. However, after several rejections, when the financial crisis hit, the actor thought of doing a job in Mumbai. After this, he worked as an assistant casting director in a production house for a few days. However, he left it as he did not enjoy it. After this, Gautam Kishanchandani gave him a small role in 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai'. But even after this, Abhishek did not get acting offers.
Here's how Abhishek turned full-fledged casting director
After not getting work as an actor, Abhishek resumed being a casting director and did the casting for many big films. These include several hit films like Vidya Balan's 'No One Killed Jessica', 'The Dirty Picture', Akshay Kumar's 'Gabbar is Back', Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur's 'OK Jaanu', 'Rock On 2', 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha', 'Secret Superstar' and 'Ajjji'. During this time, Abhishek Banerjee also kept playing some small roles. He appeared in films like No One Killed Jessica, Bombay Talkies and Phillauri. Later, the actor, along with Anmol Ahuja opened a casting agency named 'Casting Bay', which is one of the leading casting agencies in the industry today.
Got his first big role as a villain
After working as a casting director for about eight years, in the year 2017, Abhishek Banerjee got his first lead role in the film 'Ajjji'. Abhishek was seen in the role of a villain in this film directed by Devashish Makhija. The film 'Ajji' received a lot of praise from critics and the film also dominated many award ceremonies.
Recognition for 'Jana' of Stree
Abhishek Banerjee got recognition as an actor from the 2018 film 'Stree'. In the film, he played the character of Rajkumar Rao's friend 'Jana'. His acting and dialogue in the film became very hit. This year, he also appeared in the role of a compounder in Prime Video's superhit web series 'Mirzapur'. After these two memorable performances, Abhishek Banerjee started getting offers and appeared in movies like 'Dream Girl', 'Bala', and 'Ajeeb Dastaan'.
The character of 'Hathauda Tyagi' made Abhishek unmissable
Abhishek Banerjee once again appeared in a negative role in Prime Video's show 'Paatal Lok', which was released in the year 2020. In the series, he played the character of Hathauda Tyagi. In this character, Abhishek Banerjee surprised everyone with his brilliant acting. After this, he also appeared in many other hit web series, including 'Kali 2', 'Rana Naidu' and 'Aakhri Sach'. Now he is a major part of Amar Kaushik and Maddock's horror-comedy universe. He has appeared in both 'Bhediya' and 'Stree 2', from the first film of this universe. At the same time, his character 'Jana' was also seen in a guest role in 'Munjya'.
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