Abhishek Banerjee: Actors are just a prop in the visual medium

Mumbai : Abhishek Banerjee has been basking in the success of his recent release ‘Rashmi Rocket’. The film brings to light the malpractice of gender testing in sports which has ruined the lives of many athletes.

Abhishek plays a lawyer named ‘Eeshit’ to Taapsee Pannu’s titular character of ‘Rashmi Virah Chibber’ and helps the athlete in her struggle and the fight for justice. While the film has opened a debate, it has also made people realise the importance of a good script.

It exemplifies how a good film is made when good actors and good writing come together. Abhishek, who is also one of India’s biggest casting directors, is of the opinion that actors alone cannot do wonders, they need to be backed by a solid script.

“Ye bahut bada misconception hai ki accha actor cast kar lo, wo kuch kar dega (There’s a common misconception in the industry that if you cast a good actor, they will do something good with the story or the film). We (the actors) need support, we need a good screenplay, we need good dialogues, we need a director to tell us where to go, we need a DOP to tell us that we might want to look in a certain direction so that the audience can see us more in the scene”.

“It’s very important that good dialogues and good screenplays are written. Actors are just a prop in the visual medium, it’s a director’s medium. Of course, I do my homework. I work on my character and everything, but eventually what happens in the scene depends on how somebody is directing. It is a myth that good actors can do whatever they want even with a bad script,” he added.