Casting Director Of 'Jalsa' Talks About Selecting Surya Kasibhatla To Play The Child With Cerebral Palsy

Surya Kasibhatla, a 14-year-old boy of Indian origin from Texas, with Cerebral palsy, played the role of Ayush, who is the son of Maya and has established his character like no one else.

Picture Courtesy: Instagram.

New Delhi: Amazon Original 'Jalsa' has been gaining great reviews from the audience since its release. Boasting of a stellar star cast, the film is winning all hearts with its amazing story and some stellar performances. 'Jalsa' features a role of a child with cerebral palsy played by an actor with the same disability, in what the film's director and cast call a rare sign of inclusivity in one of the world's largest film industry.

Surya Kasibhatla, a 14-year-old boy of Indian origin from Texas, with Cerebral palsy, played the role of Ayush, who is the son of Maya and has established his character like no one else. His performance has not just touched the heart of audiences, but has also been an inspiration for many. 

Anmol Ahuja, who has an eye for detailing and a heart for inclusion, talked about his experience of casting Surya Kasibhatla, as Ayush, In 'Jalsa' in an interview with an entertainment portal FilmCompanion. Anmol and his team went all out to find a suitable child, who would aptly fit into the role of Ayush. To everyone's surprise, Surya not only turned out to be confident and fit for the role, but "even had a similar profile to that of Vidya Balan."

Amazon Prime Video released the behind-the-scenes video that journeys through the process of learning and working with the cheerful Surya. The cast and crew of Jalsa were amazed and pleasantly surprised to see Surya wade his way through tough scenes with utmost dedication and charm. 

Kasibhatla wanted to be an actor since the age of 4. Although it took a few years for him to meet Ahuja, he was destined to cross paths with a director who would look at his talent and not his medical condition.

Talking about briefing Kasibhatla for the role of Ayush, Ahuja says, "I am a firm believer of inclusivity and when I read the script, I knew that casting someone for Ayush will not be an easy job."

He further continued, "We thought of looking for a child who has this condition (cerebral palsy) but we work with the child and see if we can get the right performance out. Deepak Aggarwal, a team member, helped look for kids with this condition. We found some in Doha, South Africa, a few in Mumbai also."

Ahuja then told the entertainment portal that they were also looking for kids who were doing theatre and did not have the condition, as a back-up plan.

Anmol Ahuja shared an interesting story when asked about how he came across Surya. He said that Surya is a child born to parents of technological background, in Hyderabad. When he was 9-10 years old, his family shifted to Texas. Surya has his own website and is into software development at the age of thirteen.

He added further that Surya had made a video similar to the one that Ayush makes at the beginning of the film. When he saw that video, Anmol knew he had to get in touch with Surya. The team auditioned him and the video was sent to the director Suresh Triveni. In order to find out how close is Surya to the character of Ayush, the team gave him little exercises for which he would send videos.

When Surya came to Mumbai, the team started off with film-based workshops conducted by Pooja Swaroop and the director, who even rewrote Ayush's character as per Surya's personality.

Replete with spellbinding performances and a nerve-wracking storyline, ‘Jalsa’ promises to keep you at the edge, leaving you wanting for more. Apart from Vidya and Shefali, the movie features an ensemble cast of actors like Manav Kaul, Rohini Hattangady, Iqbal Khan, Vidharti Bandi, Shrikant Mohan Yadav, Shafeen Patel and Surya Kasibhatla.

‘Jalsa’ had its global premiere on Amazon Prime Video on March 18, 2022, in India and across 240 countries and territories worldwide. Watch it now!