Does the small-screen tag still weigh down actors keen to make a transition to the big screen?
Juhi Chakraborty (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 20, 2020)

Sushant Singh Rajput was the biggest TV-to-film success story in recent times. And his death has indeed brought a pall of gloom in the TV industry, especially to many who looked up to the actor’s phenomenal journey.

Actor Radhika Madan recalled how, when she was transitioning from television to movies, people always said, ‘Don’t do it’. “And I remember always giving them Sushant’s example. He made it look.. achievable. He inspired many actors like me,” she posted recently. Actors such as Mohit Raina and Karan Kundrra, too, shared how Rajput inspired many small-screen actors eyeing the big screen. But his death has raised questions on whether TV actors are whole-heartedly accepted in the film industry, despite the precedent of a certain Shah Rukh Khan.

Actor Hiten Tejwani, who has dabbled in both TV and films, with his last big-screen appearance in Kalank (2019), says in Bollywood, unlike in the West, some still believe in the demarcation of a TV actor and film actor. “But it is slowly going away. Casting TV actors does get a bit difficult as people have the thing of TV actors being over-exposed,” he says.

TV actor Manasi Parekh (below), who made her Bollywood debut with Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), feels stigmas around TV actors are long gone. “Whatever struggles he [Rajput] had, what he could or could not do, is his journey. We all loved him as an actor, he was extremely talented. It is unfortunate what happened. But we should let it be, not speculate,” she says.

Film trade analyst Atul Mohan feels talent is what matters at the end of the day and, in the recent past, there has been “a healthy influx of actors from the television world in films”.

Actor Rohan Mehra, who starred in the TV shows Bade Achhe Lagte Hain and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, besides a few films, says, “He [Rajput] was an inspiration; his death is a demotivation for sure. If your inspiration does this after achieving so much, what are we going to do?”

And actor Ragini Khanna, star of several hit TV projects and films such as Teen Thay Bhai (2011) and Gurgaon (2017), observes every industry is tough. “Films are not a step up and TV is not a step down. We should not look at it like that. As an actor when you are out there, who are you seeking acceptance from? The only acceptance an actor needs is from the audience,” she shares.