Casting a spell

She might be a storehouse of talent, but she concedes that she felt rather lost professionally after hits like Sathya and Page 3. Not knowing where to go and who to meet, Sandhya Mridul frittered away some good offers.

But now she doesn't want to see the younger generation of actors missing out on opportunities and falling prey to the casting couch. The actor who has recently launched her own casting company talks to CS about the dangers of being typecast:

Babe in the woods
I was completely lost after Saathiya and Page 3. I didn't know what to do with the reviews that I got nor did I know how to do my own PR.

I didn't know whether it was a good idea to go meet producers and directors personally. It's tough to find a footing when you don't have any contacts in the industry. Today people have representation, which is a blessing.

Typecasting woes
I was typecast first as a bahu due to Koshishu00a0- Ek Aashaa that ran on TV, and then the simple girl-next-door image post Saathiya. Many people recommended me for the role of Pearl in Page 3, but Madhur (Bhandarkar) dismissed me as being, 'really good but too seedha.'

Then he happened to see my picture on the party pages of a newspaper where I was dressed in funky clothes and decided to meet me. It was only then that he thought that I fit the bill. Bollywood is very good at typecasting and I hope I can do my bit to change that.