Television actors have been facing discrimination in Bollywood for years, but now more and more actors seem comfortable about sharing their bitter experiences in the industry. Over the past few months, a number of television actors have come forward and talked openly about the kind of discriminatory behaviour they had to face in the industry when they decided to try their luck in movies.
Well-known actor Gurmeet Choudhary shares his struggle story when he decided to make a transition to films after establishing himself as a popular actor on television. “My dream was to be on the 70mm screen. But after sincerely doing TV for years, there came a point when I felt that I should try films because I wanted to take on a new challenge in life. I had achieved a lot on TV and I wanted to do a film. And during that time, I was told by many that ‘You are a TV star. When people can watch you for free on TV who will buy a ticket to watch you on screen?’ I faced it a lot,” shares the actor, who debuted on the big screen with Mahesh Bhatt’s romantic horror film Khamoshiyan (2015), which turned out to be a hit at the box-office.
Choudhary adds that things changed positively after the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput successfully transitioned from TV to films. “He proved that even TV stars have audiences in theatres. If you give us a break then we will also get an audience. He opened doors for me in films. Before that, I was struggling to get films and people were not taking me seriously. But after Sushant proved himself and I was also given a grand launch. That prejudice ended then. I keep getting films and people started taking me seriously,” says the actors.
When asked about nepotism and favouritism in Bollywood, Choudhary did not deny its existence but said that the audience is also to be blamed for the culture. “I want to ask the audience that if you have so much problem with star-kids then go and watch the films of newcomers who are getting launched. The audience has to show interest in them as well but they are more interested in star-kids. If a new actor is launched today even if it a small film, they should support them, write good comments on their posts and stop crying ‘nepotism, nepotism’,” concludes the actor.
Gurmeet Choudhary will next be seen in the upcoming film The Wife.
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