His career spans three decades, and he’s an actor who has been appreciated for his performances. But Harsh Chhaya is also known to call a spade a spade. In a recent social media post, he wrote about favouritism and unprofessionalism in showbiz. When we spoke to him about this, he elaborated further on the highs and lows of showbiz and why in recent times, he hasn’t been seen much on the screen. Excerpts from the conversation:

I will credit my entire career to the kind of roles I was offered in television a decade ago. But, in the past few years, I haven’t enjoyed doing TV or films. I say films because normally one believes that after playing smaller parts, you will eventually bag bigger roles. But that has not happened. I continue to get offers for four scenes in insignificant roles. Similarly, in television, earlier there were good stories, and every character was well written, but today, there is a hero, heroine and the rest of the actors are standing in the background.

My performances in web shows Undekhi and Mukhbir got good feedback and yet, I am sitting at home. So, one wonders what went wrong. Being a character actor is not easy in showbiz. In addition, I am not happy with how the entire casting system behaves with actors who are not film stars or new actors, but somewhere in the between. If you haven’t done films with stars, then you are perceived as someone who doesn’t hold much weight. Even after working for three decades and doing a reasonable amount of good work, a casting guy calls me and says, ‘Apna phone number aur naam placard pe likh do and then send a video’. I have no problem in auditioning, I had auditioned for my part in Fashion too, but why audition for a role which will last for two days? Therefore, I have kept myself busy with voice overs and enough roles to run my kitchen in the last seven years.

Today, if you are shooting for 15 days for a web show, or you have two million followers on social media, you are considered an A category actor and enjoy a certain standard of facilities when you are on the set. But if you are shooting for four days, then your experience or seniority does not count. You are considered a C grade actor and are given accommodation in a different setup. Earlier, the entire film unit would stay together. Today, it is divided according to the number of days you shoot. If you don’t belong to a particular group or don’t know the right kind oaf people, then you are a nobody here. Only a few directors like Madhur Bhandarkar or Subhash Kapoor are professional about this. And if you refuse a role (I said no to a role with Anil Kapoor in a web show because there was not much for me to do) they tend to spread the word that you are not an easy guy to work with. I understand that no role is small in showbiz, but people should not make you feel small.