Filmmaker Trupti Bhoir has opened up about the exact moment she decided Taha Shah Badussha had to play the male lead in her upcoming film Paro- The Untold Story of Bride Slavery, and it had nothing to do with his acting range or star appeal.According to Bhoir, the two were deep in conversation about the script when Taha said something that settled the matter for her instantly. Rather than talking about what the role could do for his career, he spoke about his mother, telling her the project would bring her joy. Bhoir recalled being struck by how unprompted and sincere the remark felt, she said, “The moment Taha said, ‘I think this will give more happiness to my mother that I’ve accepted this film,’ I knew he was the one. I immediately thought, ‘I want him only!’.”She has since described the exchange as proof that casting decisions do not always come down to auditions or screen tests. Sometimes, she said, a single honest sentence reveals more about an actor than a reel ever could.In Paro, Taha plays Rashid, one of the husbands of Bhoir’s character Chand, and undergoes a significant arc from remorseless to accountable over the course of the film. The film itself, directed by two-time National Award winner Gajendra Ahire and produced by Trupti Bhoir alongside Sandesh Sharda, tackles the practice of bride trafficking and forced marriage in India, centered on so-called “Paro” or “Molki” brides.The film marks Bhoir’s first Hindi feature as producer, and in January it entered the contention list for the 98th Academy Awards, more than a decade after she produced Touring Talkies, the first Marathi film to reach Oscar contention.