‘I was told no one would pay to see me in films’
As a lot of stories about unfair practices in the Hindi film industry have come to light recently, actor Gurmeet Choudhary shares his struggle story of trying to shift focus from TV to films.
“My dream was to be on the 70mm screen. But after doing TV for years, there came a point when I felt that I should try out 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?’,” shares the actor, who made his big screen debut with 2015 film, Khamoshiyan.
Choudhary admits that people were always willing to meet him to discuss prospects of films but “they didn’t want to take the risk with a TV actor”.
However, the actor says things changed drastically after late actor Sushant Singh Rajput successfully transitioned from TV to films.
“He proved that even TV stars have audiences in theatres. He opened doors for me in films. Before that, I was struggling to get films and people were not taking me seriously,” says Choudhary, 36.
Admitting that nepotism and favouritism are a big bane in the film industry, the actor says that even the audience is to be blamed for this culture.
“If the audience has a problem with star kids, they should watch the films of newcomers. 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, instead of crying ‘Nepotism’,” says the actor, who will soon resume the shoot of his next film The Wife.
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Music composer duo Salim Sulaiman have been part of the Indian music industry for almost three decades, and without having any inside connections in the industry, they managed to make a mark. Hence, they find themselves on the opposite side of the favouritism debate.
But while Sulaiman believes “hard work is everything”, his brother and the other half of the duo, Salim, agrees that favouritism does exist in this industry much like it does in every other sector. “There is favouritism when it comes to labels giving opportunities to artistes who are signed with them, and that is fair. It’s their business model, but it’s not fair to artistes who are amazing. And that’s why, we have started a record label for a beautiful creative community to come together where we give equal chances to known and unknown singers,” says Salim.
Since the lockdown, a lot of singles have released and done relatively better. Sulaiman feels that the non-existence of Bollywood music for almost four months has helped the genre. “Earlier, producers released songs to enhance their films, but now, no Bollywood music is releasing either, and that’s given a great window of opportunity for independent musicians to showcase their music on various platforms,” adds Sulaiman.
The duo’s new single titled Beech Raaste has crossed one million views on Youtube and the composers feel that though the lockdown has a lot of negative aspects, “it’s a great time to make music”. “Things are going to be a little difficult for composers and performers, but we just have to reinvent ourselves,” signs off Salim.