new Delhi: Amazon Original ‘Jalsa’ has been receiving great reviews from the audience since its release. With a stellar star cast, the film has been winning hearts with its amazing storyline and some stellar performances. ‘Jalsa’ stars a child suffering from cerebral palsy, played by an actor with the same disability, which the film’s director and cast call a rare sign of inclusivity in the world’s biggest film industry.
Surya Kasibhatla, a 14-year-old Indian-origin Texas boy with cerebral palsy, plays Aayush, who is Maya’s son and has established his character like no other. His acting has not only touched the hearts of the audience but has also been an inspiration to many.
Anmol Ahuja, who has an eye for detailing and a heart for inclusion, talks about his experience of casting Surya Kasibhatla as Aayush in ‘Jalsa’ in an interview with an entertainment portal FilmCompanion . Anmol and his team search for a suitable child who can aptly fit in the role of Aayush. To everyone’s surprise, Suriya not only came out confident and fit for the role, but “even resembled Vidya Balan’s profile.”
Amazon Prime Video released a behind-the-scenes video that travels through the process of learning and working with the cheerful Sun. The cast and crew of Jalsa were astonished and pleasantly surprised to see Suriya go through the difficult scenes with utmost dedication and charm.
Kashibhatla wanted to become an actor from the age of 4. Although it took her a few years to meet Ahuja, she was destined to go with a director who would look at her talent and not her medical condition.
Speaking about the briefing to Kasibhatla for the role of Aayush, Ahuja says, “I am a firm believer of inclusivity and when I read the script, I knew it would not be an easy task for Aayush to cast someone. “
He 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 perform right. A member of the team Deepak Aggarwal helped in locating the children with it. Condition. We found some in Doha, South Africa, some in Mumbai too.”
Ahuja then told the entertainment portal that they were also looking for kids who were doing theater and had no conditions, as a back-up plan.
When asked how he met Suriya, Anmol Ahuja shared an interesting story. He said that Surya is the son of parents of technical 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 further added that Suriya had made a video similar to what Aayush makes in the beginning of the film. When he saw that video, Anmol knew that he had to contact Suriya. The team auditioned him and the video was sent to director Suresh Triveni. To find out how close Suriya is to Aayush’s character, the team gave him some exercises for which he would send videos.
When Suriya came to Mumbai, the team started with film-based workshops organized by Pooja Swarup and the director, who rewrote the character of Aayush according to Suriya’s personality.
Filled with mesmerizing performances and a heartwarming story, ‘Jalsa’ promises to keep you hooked to others, and leave you wanting for more. Apart from Vidya and Shefali, the film has an ensemble cast of Manav Kaul, Rohini Hattangadi, Iqbal Khan, Vidyarthi Bandi, Shrikant Mohan Yadav, Shafin Patel and Surya Kasibhatla.
‘Jalsa’ had its global premiere on March 18, 2022 in India and on Amazon Prime Video in 240 countries and territories around the world. watch it now!