“I am always fighting for my actors…” With these words the irrepressible casting director Nikita Grover exemplifies not only her uncanny eye for talent but also her love for new faces. If the devil lies in the details, the soul of filmmaking is in its casting choices. With a host of prestigious projects like Sudip Sharma’s Paatal Lok, Kohrra and also his upcoming Pushpak Vimaan up her sleeve, Nikita doesn’t just find actors but heartbeats of the hinterland. Freshness, for her, is paramount and it gives her a great high when an actor, who has not faced the camera ever before, manages to crack the part.An actor herself, seen as cop Manju Verma in Paatal Lok and two Punjabi films as well, she is overtly sympathetic towards actors. As she puts it, “If I have discovered you, I will get you the job.”Currently, she is busy scouting for an untitled Punjabi film directed by Amarjit Saron starring Ammy Virk and Roopi Gill. Pollywood is rather averse to risk-taking, especially when it comes to casting. Indeed, it bothers her that ‘ghoom phir ke’ you see only four or five faces in every other Punjabi film. She says, “Punjab is teeming with so much talent who too deserve a chance.” She herself stumbled upon actors not seen often while casting for both seasons of Kohrra and is today especially proud of so many actors like Pradhuman Singh, also seen in 2010 film Tere Bin Laden, and Mandeep Kaur Ghai, who made a mark as Twinkle in the much acclaimed show rooted in Punjab. She also recalls the enthusiasm of the senior actor Parminder Pal Kaur who plays grandmother Harsimrat Atwal in Kohraa 2 and states, “Imagine this 73-year-old drove all the way from Patiala to Chandigarh for audition.”Kohrra reignited the Delhi-born and bred Punjaban’s love for her roots. “It was as if Punjab was calling me. I just felt I belonged here. The warmth in Punjab is infectious.”Of course, convincing Punjabi filmmakers to infuse fresh blood in their cinema won’t be a cakewalk. But she is ready to knock every director’s door just as she knocked at houses in Nagaland in her casting pursuit for Paatal Lok. Her quest invariably takes her to unlikeliest of places, a cobbler’s den, a restaurant, streets and her gut instinct can spot talent at first glance, even in a bathroom. Working with brilliant maker like Sudip gives her the freedom to choose whosoever catches her eye. She shares, “Known, unknown, from drama school, untrained; the bottom line is they have to fit the part.”‘Shun cliché casting,’ is a dictum she imbibed from her first mentor Abhishek Banerjee, a gifted actor and noted casting director. Like him, she would not pick one lane and sail in both boats. But as an actor, she finds it impossible to pitch herself. “I guess, I need to be in touch with other casting directors.”Have the members of her ilk truly got enough recognition for their craft and if directors who generally choose leads themselves accord them due deference? Well, she feels, “There is still time, before we get enough credit.” But it doesn’t perturb her that main actors are invariably directors’ choice for “who else but Jaideep Ahlawat could have played Hathiram in Paatal Lok?” But yes, there are many directors who would rather play safe and she quips with candour, “I have been thrown out of many such projects.”To millions of aspirants out there who might take rejection to heart, she who picks up talent day in and out advises, “Make auditions a habit and don’t bother about results. Treat these as rehearsal platforms not as rejection ground.”Did you see Kohrra 2 yet?Just in case you missed out Kohrra 2, Nikita Grover beseeches, “Watch it for those beautiful, strong complex women characters and I am so proud to say there are so many women out there and I had a ball casting them.”