Rajeev Khandelwal has worked across mediums and has ruled it all – from television to OTT and the big screen. Therefore, he is one of the right people to shed light on how filmmakers in the country perceive the television industry and its actors. Recently, Khandelwal sat down for an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha when he admitted that the perception of TV is “very wrong”. He claimed that most filmmakers and producers think of it as something inferior and therefore are not open to working with television actors.
“The perception of TV is very wrong in our industry. They think it is a small-medium, TV actors do not work. They want to work with a newcomer but not with a television actor. If you look at my career, you’ll see after Aamir (2008 movie), I did Sach Ka Saamna. I went back to TV. The idea was to set an example. Who are you to tell me, ‘Rajeev TV par mat jaana’. Everyone told me the same. I broke those so-called norms,” he told us.
Khandelwal further claimed that even television actors think of themselves as inferior compared to film stars, which he says is wrong. “I have not been a part of the TV industry for around 7 years. I feel that actors themselves feel inferior to film actors. They still feel that films are bigger. The biggest of superstars will not be to match the fan followings that TV actors have. They need to feel proud and happy about themselves and must not compare themselves. Their positioning will last way longer. The love that you get is very organic. The love that film actors get is manufactured,” the actor added.
Talking about how he managed to jump from one medium to another, Rajeev shared, “If I am a capable actor, I should be accepted across mediums. Why should I limit myself to a medium? Films gave me a larger-than-life picture. If you are a capable actor, you can convince the audience.”
The 48-year-old actor further shed light on film stars throwing unnecessary tantrums and explained that his recently release show, ‘Showtime’ presents all of these aspects in a “very real” way. “This is a true representation of the present-day industry. How it works. How it embraces,” he said.
However, Rajeev also blamed the producers for these tantrums and explained that they are also responsible for rising entourage costs. “A lot of people don’t even realise that this is a tantrum. They start believing that this is a part of their lifestyle. Why would you do this? There is no sense in this. I have worked with many of them. It was weird. For example, it is weird when you are shooting in Madh Island and in the middle of the night at 2 am you want from something from a place in town. It is one of the many tantrums that I am talking about,” he said.
“I want to ask, who increases their cost? Who gave them two vanity vans? It is provided by them (producers) only. They tell actors that I will give you this much money but let’s do a 3-film deal. Then they ask for profit-sharing also. The next day, when they ask for more, you call them out. Who created it?” Rajeev concluded.
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