Who your father is doesn’t matter on TV: Krish Pathak

Krish Pathak minces no words to denounce people who credit his journey to his father, actor Sunil Lahri’s success on the small screen. The 27-year-old actor confesses that he was out of work for four years after his first show.

“I don’t think who you are or who your father is really matters on TV. Unlike Bollywood, where people might be ready to launch you in a project because of your family’s stardom, the TV world doesn’t give you a chance if you don’t have merit,” says Pathak, adding, “Every actor here, be it from an unknown background or from an affluent family, has their own share of struggles.”

He entered the small screen with POW Bandi Yuddh Ke in 2016. After his debut, he had to sit at home without work for four years. It was only one year ago that he started getting work and featured in a music video, Jiyun Kaise, and is now part of a fiction show.

Lahri is known for depicting Laxman in the 1987 epic drama Ramayan. Opening up about finding his own identity under his father’s shadow, he says, “Star kid tag doesn’t follow you on TV. If that was the scene, I would have started my career as a lead in a show because of my father’s status. Rather, I started with a parallel role in a show.” According to him, the industry is a battleground where “every actor is fighting for his place with another actor or a newbie”. And the challenges just increase when you have a legacy to take forward. “When someone in your family has already seen success, you always have the load on your shoulders to match up to them,” he asserts.

While he doesn’t harbour any resentment about it, he feels it is wrong to be judged and compared. “Every actor, has their own share of struggle and their own graph; and one should let them chart their own way,” the actor concludes.