Known for working with non-professional actors, Chaitanya Tamhane and his casting team worked with professional classical musicians and trained them to act in front of the camera.
Academy Award-winning director Alfonso Cuarón served as a mentor to Chaitanya Tamhane during the making of The Disciple.
After being deeply impressed by Tamhane's debut film Court (2014), Cuarón invited him to shadow the production of Roma (2018) as part of a mentorship initiative. Their creative bond grew stronger, and Cuarón ultimately came on board as an executive producer for The Disciple (2020), marking his first time backing an Indian film.