Revealed: How Shoojit Sircar zeroed in on Banita Sandhu for ‘October’

While we are all gearing up for the trailer of the much-awaited film ‘October’, we wonder how the debutant actress Banita Sandhu, who will share screen space with Varun Dhawan was identified.

Little does anyone know that Shoojit Sircar and Sandhu have already worked together in a commercial before. The beautiful story telling of the Doublemint’s “Ek Ajnabee Haseena Se” song was directed by Sircar and had Sandhu play the female lead. The entire song depicts love but only with expressions, which made a lot of when it was launched. When Sircar met her for the shoot of the ad, he was instantly convinced that Banita was the perfect choice for the film.

Sircar shared, “Everyone was in awe of Banita from the chewing gum commercial which I had directed. While I was shooting the ad film, Juhi Chaturvedi and I were also working on the script of October. One day, I clicked a picture of Banita and sent it to Juhi saying, ‘She has the potential to fit into the character that we are looking at’.”

Once the script was completed and the director had finalised Varun Dhawan for the role, he reached out to Sandhu to ask her to join the October team. Shoojit further adds, “Juhi, Ronnie and I zeroed in on her and were sure that, she is the girl we should go for. My casting director also felt that she was the right person for this character.”

Her performance in the film is so captivating, that, ‘October’ will mark a huge milestone for her.

With all the anticipation around the film, the makers will be launching the trailer of the film early next week.

Produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, ‘October’ stars Varun Dhawan and Banita Sandhu. A Rising Sun Films Production, directed by Shoojit Sircar the film is set to release on 13th April 2018.