Atul Mongia

Atul Mongia shot to fame when the movie Love Sex Aur Dhoka was the talk of the town in 2010. This Casting Director cum Acting Workshop Trainer collaborated with Dibakar Banerjee Dibakar Bannerjee is a director and screenwriter a >> Read More... , and the results were just great. Love Sex Aur Dhoka was released with fresh faces and Bollywood turned towards Atul Mongia. Atul, who also teaches acting and conducts various acting workshops for actors, is always reckoned for his iconic work. 
Atul did not intend to be a Casting Director in the beginning but always wished to fraternize and be a part of the film industry. His aim was to become a Director, and he says he is working on his first directorial venture at present. He was an Acting Director at the Barry John Acting School in New Delhi, and his career in Bollywood starts from there. After investing almost fifteen years into this field, he turned to become Casting Director. But he maintains that it all happened by mere coincidence. 
Atul is known for teaching and explaining acting and cinema tricks in acting to actors, which include newcomers as well. He trains the actors; he makes sure that the actors get deeply involved in the character when needed, he breaks them down and makes them discover their potential. Actors like Rajkumar Rao got their first big break through Atul via social media. Once he was cast in LSAD, Rajkumar was well-appreciated and noticed by the entire film industry. No matter how talented you are, it becomes absolutely necessary to be spotted by the Casting Director to get your big break. People like Atul do that for the newcomers. 
Atul has many movies to his credit, but he also says not all of them were a box office success. He is not affected much by how much money the movie made as his focus is to put together a group of highly talented actors and give life to Director’s story. He may be very conventional in his style, but he surely has left his mark in the industry for his work in movies like NH10, Titli, Lootera and Queen. 
Casting Kangana Ranaut and being able to picturise her for the role of female lead in Queen was not a cake walk. But the reviews and results were just fantastic. Movies like Titli gathered tremendous critical acclaim that they were nominated for screening at various National and International Film Festivals. Once a movie is headed toward a Big Film Festival, it is quite understandable the credibility the movie upholds. Atul has the honor of being part of movies like Titli. Atul also being the Assistant Director in the film Titli, opens up about that the struggle to portray the lower-class section situation as more realism with humane approach was quite challenging. He and the movie (Titli)’s Director Kanu Behl put a lot of efforts and hard work to make this movie extraordinary. 
For Atul, it is the understanding of the Director’s need for the role is the biggest thing to comprehend and if he gets it spot on, he is confident of his choices he presents. He too agrees like other Casting Directors that to bring Director’s vision to life is the biggest and innovative challenge and Atul is grateful to have worked with different kind of Directors like Sudhir Misra and Dibakar Banerjee. Atul says that his days as just a Casting Director are over now and that he would be focusing on Directing. He has around nine movies where he has been casting director and many as an Acting Instructor.