Abhinay Banker Biography 
Abhinay Banker is a casting director associated with Gujarati cinema. He is an eminent theater personality and has been credited to shape many young artists of films and theater field. He is also known as an actor, director and writer of Gujarati entertainment industry. He currently heads the department of dramatics at the prestigious Darpana Academy of Performing Arts. He also owns a casting studio. Though film casting was not an important aspect of Indian films earlier, in the past 5 or 10 years, casting directors do have significance in Indian cinema. Abhinay was the casting director of one of the biggest hits and trendsetter of Gujarati films - ‘Kevi Rite Jaish’. The movie also marked his career as a casting director.
Banker was born and brought up in Ahmedabad. He was associated with theatre for many years at Ahmedabad before his entry to films as a casting director. His first film as a casting director was Abhishek Jain’s ‘Kevi Rite Jaish’. The movie which was credited as the first Urban Gujarati film was a huge hit as well, and Banker feels casting of actors play a significant role in film’s success and in Hollywood, it’s equally important to film’s director. Film’s director Abhishek Jain knew him earlier since theatre days and Banker got associated with the script as he liked it. Slowly he started suggesting actors for the characters of the movie and later identified his talent as a casting director. That’s how he officially accepted the title of casting director for the movie.
Later he took up assignments of short films and ads as a casting director and very soon recognized that there is no such name in Gujarati entertainment industry. So he decided to take it up as a full time role. He feels that many good scripts fail only because of casting problems and he promises to take Gujarati cinema to the next level. He did casting for two Bollywood films - D-Day and Gori Tere Pyaar Main, and that’s how AB Casting Studio took birth.
He completed graduation in commerce and also pursued his Master’s degree. But he discontinued his studies after one year to pursue his career in theatre. He regularly visited Performing Arts department of Gujarat University for 2 years and Deana asked him to complete the degree. That’s how he got fully associated with theatre. Yet he believes that no acting course or university can make someone an actor.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 27, 2016
