Meet the casting director who discovered Ranveer Singh

Shanoo Sharma, the reclusive casting director who has spotted the actor in Ranveer Singh and Parineeti Chopra and helped Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor make their dream debuts, may look like a diva, but is a little girl at heart.

Bollywood’s best-known casting director Shanoo Sharma is telling me a story: “I was in my Maruti Ertiga, heading for a meeting, when I spotted this beautiful girl on the road in suburban Mumbai. She looked like Salma Hayek: lovely, luscious and hot. I was casting for a rock star. And I thought, wow – here she is! I stopped the car, pointed out the girl, and told my assistants, ‘Go!’ They ran after her.”

Shanoo Sharma, the reclusive casting director who has spotted the actor in Ranveer Singh and Parineeti Chopra and helped Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor make their dream debuts, may look like a diva, but is a little girl at heart.

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The self-proclaimed Instagram ‘Diwaah’, seen with Amitabh Bachchan (clockwise from right), Jackie Shroff, Karan Johar, Parineeti Chopra, designers Abu-Sandeep, Arjun Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Farah Khan and Vaani Kapoor (Instagram)