After the critical acclaim of Season 1, the casting team of Kohrra returned with a bigger responsibility, finding faces that could carry the psychological weight and cultural authenticity of Season 2. In an exclusive conversation with News Ei Samay, casting director Nikita Grover and her team opened up about the toughest roles to crack, the painstaking grassroots search across Punjab, and the collaborative process that ensured every character felt real, raw and rooted.
Biggest casting challenge for the team
Nikita Grover mentioned while speaking to News Ei Samay, “I mean, there were some characters that were tough to find. Rakesh Kumar was one; Arun Kumar was one. Even we struggled a little in Sam Bajwa also. We made a lot of time to get the right cast, so we had—we were lucky enough to have a lot of time in hand. So that was there.”
Sanaa Najam, another member of the casting team, mentioned, “The beauty of Kohrra and shows like Kohrra rooted in culture, is also the writing, and also that is where the casting team really shines as well because it's so well-written. Because that also becomes such a great template for us to find people who are, you know, apt for certain roles, certain colloquial, you know, identities that come across. So I would say that it really.”
Also Read | Alia Bhatt opens BAFTA 2026 with ‘Namaskar,’ brings Hindi to the global stage | WATCH
Creative collaboration approach
Sanchit Ahuja, a part of the casting team, mentioned, “When we meet the directors and the writers for the meeting and when we read the script, we try to tell the actor exactly what the director and writer are looking for. For example, if a single line is written but there is a lot of depth to that line, it is necessary to deliver that and what they are seeking in it. We try to explain that to the actor so that they can bring the depth to that scene or that particular dialogue.”
“We do a lot of meetings with the whole team also, with the director a lot of times; actually, every five or six days we meet them. So we understand; it gives us, like, feedback, and it is also like sometimes the director does not think the way we are thinking and vice-versa. So, some things we also kind of like, like how Rannvijay does not belong to this world, you know? So when the idea had actually come to our mind, we shared it with them, and obviously it was, you know, like nobody. We were not sure ourselves until we auditioned him," Nikita Grover added.
Script breakdown to final selection for this season
Sanchit Arora, a part of the casting team and an actor who played the role of Johnny Malang in the series, mentioned, "I remember going to a lot of actors’ places and then discussing shows or the script with them at length. At times, it used to take like four, five, or six hours. And then the best part was that, as Sana also mentioned, we literally went on the grassroots level and visited every city. So we had an open call in Mumbai, and we received at least five or six hundred people, if I am not wrong. And then the same was in Delhi; in Delhi, I think we received around a thousand people. And then in every city – in Chandigarh, in Patiala, in Amritsar – we had an open call.”
“And this time Nikita made sure that she visited every city in Punjab, and no city, nobody and no theatre group was left out. Because during Kohrra Season 1, I remember both Nikita and me; we travelled to Naatshala in Amritsar and Khalsa College and whatnot. But this time she made sure that she, you know, pushed the bar, and she literally does not leave any artist that is there in Punjab. So the process that way was, although at that time it felt a little painstaking and a little tiresome, eventually when you watch the show, it’s very fruitful, and because the writing is such that whatever is written in the script does not really require any sort of characterisation or anything, but at the same time you have to see that the actor is playing the truth. So, that was the fun part," he added.
From open casting calls drawing hundreds across Mumbai, Delhi and Punjab to intimate script discussions that lasted hours, the casting of Kohrra Season 2 was anything but routine. The team’s commitment to authenticity, stepping beyond studio walls, engaging directly with theatre groups, and aligning closely with writers and directors ensured that each character resonated with emotional depth and cultural truth. If Season 2 feels lived-in and layered, it is because its casting was built not just on selection but on relentless search, collaboration and belief in discovering talent where stories truly belong on the ground.
