All stars I approached said no to ‘Manto’: Nandita Das

Actress-filmmaker Nandita Das presumed that there will be "young charming actors" in abundance to play Saadat Hasan Manto’s closest friend and charismatic actor Shyam in her ambitious movie ‘Manto’, but she says "all stars" whom she approached said ‘no’ for the fear of looking like a second lead.

The talented Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the title role of Manto, one of the best known South Asian short story writers. "Intriguingly, all the ‘stars’ I approached said ‘no’ without even reading the script or asking any questions," Nandita posted on Twitter with a link to a detailed column piece she has penned for theweek.in.

Titled "No Shyam in sight", the column describes the woes Nandita has faced in casting for the character of Shyam, and how she has more clarity about "the connection between the roles they (the actors) choose and the perception of their ‘worth in the market’ ". "Between finding less conservative producers and relentless location scouting, there was one problem that I hadn’t quite anticipated the casting for the charismatic actor and Manto’s closest friend, Shyam," Nandita has written.