The International Emmy Awards 2020 nominations have been announced, and actor Arjun Mathur has been nominated in the Best Performance By An Actor category for the web show Made in Heaven. Mathur says he is elated, but “still in shock”.

The actor was “clueless” till a friend informed him about it. “Getting the award isn’t even a thought, just the nomination is enough. The jury got so much work from over the world and picked me and a few others. I really can’t believe it,” he says.

Mathur says the credit is never his alone. The first thing he did was called the directors of the show Zoya Akhtar and Nitya Mehra to thank them for providing him with the opportunity. “What’s more amazing is that we go through years in our career with doubts, insecurities and not feeling good enough, and then something like this happens, and that’s it. Signals like this give you hope. It tells you that happiness and rejections are fleeting, you just need to keep walking,” he adds.

One would expect an international recognition to translate into more career opportunities, but Mathur doesn’t look at it like that. “Having high expectations only leads to disappointment. I’m now an International Emmy nominated actor, it feels pretty good to say that. But as far as the industry is concerned, I can’t speak for them,” he adds.

Mathur also hopes that medium related division diminishes. “Cinema is as credible as TV, as credible a projector, as credible as a streaming platform or for that matter even a stage. It’s just a way of telling a story. I think it’s all about taking the right product to the audience without too much noise,” he concludes.