Filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor has never been one to chase stars — his cinema has always placed character and performance above celebrity. But even by his own high standards, ‘The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case’ marked a rare moment of discovery. In an exclusive conversation with Mathrubhumi English, the National Award-winning director opens up about casting Amit Sial as the lead in the upcoming gripping political thriller — a choice that, he admits, was not backed by familiarity but by instinct.

The acclaimed filmmaker recalled how Amit wasn’t the first choice for playing DR Kaarthikeyan, the IPS officer who led the Central Bureau of Investigation’s Special Investigation Team (SIT), which investigated India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. Talking about casting Amit, Nagesh said, “A lot of times when I cast, especially since ‘City of Dreams’ started, I rely very heavily on the casting director. The number of people I tried for Amit’s role was insane. I had not seen ‘Maharani’, and I had not seen ‘Jamtara.’ Sameer Nair of Applause Entertainment, out of the blue, one day, just throws a zinger in a conversation, and says, ‘Hey, did you ever consider Amit? Amit Sial?’ I was like, ‘Who is that?’ to which he said, ‘He is a terrific actor; you should take a look at him.’”

After Sameer’s suggestion, when Nagesh did consider Amit for the role, he was stunned at the actor’s resemblance to Kaarthikeyan. “So, I kind of looked, and was like, ‘Hmm.’ We were very close to the filming, and I’m thinking… But then, I look at him, and you know, we kind of tailor everything, and we go, ‘Oh my god, he is a dead ringer for freaking Kaarthikeyan.’ Now this is too much. I talked to a bunch of people, I looked up a couple of scenes, and I have done this all my life. Starting with Ayesha Takia, before I cast her in ‘Dor’, I saw two scenes of the very first film she did, and that’s all that I went by. There was something about this guy (Amit), I just threw a dart and decided to go with him,” said the ‘Iqbal’ director.

Praising Amit, Nagesh went on to add how the “whole show rests on his shoulders” and how casting him was "arguably one of the most insanely awesome decisions” that he made. “Like you said, he disappears in a role. There are very few actors around today who can do that. Everyone’s got their own shtick. This guy does so little and yet so much,” he added.

What followed next, he says, was one of the most rewarding collaborations of his career. So impressed was he by Amit’s restrained yet powerful performance that he compares the experience to watching Naseeruddin Shah at work — an actor he deeply admires.

“I actually paid him a compliment. I told him, since ‘3 Deewarein’, when Naseeruddin Shah had done a couple of scenes, have I seen an actor who I’ve looked at on the monitor and said, ‘Hmmm. That’s pretty good’? I have gone to the edit table and gone, ‘Oh my god! That is insane! Like what just happened there? What did he do?’ And that happens because everything he (Amit) does is not acting. This is what we call ‘unconscious competence’.”

Praising the ‘Maharani’ actor’s craft further, Nagesh went on to add: “Once he has understood the role, he is showing me a couple of different things of what he wants to try, and once he did that at the very beginning, we were done… no discussions to be had. He would just come and do the scene, and I’d be like, ‘Ok, perfect.’ That is how the series was shot (with Amit).”

In the interview, Nagesh also recalled one of his favourite scenes from the series featuring Amit — a quiet, understated moment that speaks volumes and, for the director, gave goosebumps every time he watched it in the edit.

“So, the most amazing thing about Kaartikeyan was that he never lost his cool. He never loses his cool! There is a scene where Kaartikeyan chastises Amit Verma (played by Sahil Vaid) — the hot-shot investigating SP under him. All he says in that scene is ‘enough’.”

“And so, we were kind of debating about how… and like I always say, wherever I have an actor whom I totally trust, I’m like, I’ll run with it, and then we’ll see what happens. Watch the line (in the series) with which he says ‘enough!’. It is so little on it. It’s a moment that will come and go in the show, and people won’t even realize it. But for me, it’s a goosebump moment,” Nagesh said while talking about the scene.

The director was so impressed with the particular scene that he claims to have watched it a hundred times during the edit, and every time he saw it, he had only one reaction - “Oh my god!” Adding more, Nagesh said how he could have done six different takes with Amit saying the same line differently, but “kept what he did of the first take. That’s what’s in the show.”

Meanwhile, ‘The Hunt’ will be available for streaming from Friday on Sony LIV. Directed by Nagesh and backed by Applause Entertainment, the upcoming web series features a stellar cast comprising Sahil Vaid, Bagavathi Perumal, Girish Sharma, Danish Iqbal, Nishan Nanaiah, Shafeeq Mustafa, Gouri Padma Kumar, Vidyuth Gargi, and Amit in pivotal roles.