Exclusive! Mukesh Chhabra: I never cast myself as a casting director

It is not common for directors to become actors. While this happened with Abhishek Banerjee, Mukesh Chhabra has followed suit by playing an important role in the web series Kafas. 

In the show, Mukesh plays a journalist named Irfan Akhtar who writes stories for a web portal. The focus of his work is on people who are harassed at the workplace, especially those who face exploitation in the entertainment industry.

The father of a young victim of sexual harassment seeks Irfan's help, and what happens next forms the crux of Kafas. 

Speaking about casting himself in a project, Mukesh said, "My casting directors for Kafas were director Sahil Sangha and Devendar Patel, one of my assistants. You see, as a casting director, I don't think of myself as an actor or wonder if I can play any character. The job and mindset of a casting director is very different from that of an actor. Even when it came to my directorial debut, Dil Bechara, I did not cast myself. Someone else thought that I fit the character that I played in the film."

Kafas is the Indian adaptation of the British show Dark Money. It also stars Sharman Joshi, Mona Singh, Vivan Bhatena, and Mikail Gandhi. It is available to stream on SonyLIV.