Television actors are as good as film actors, urge telly stars
Hina Khan’s Cannes 2019 visit was subject to a derogatory remark recently. TV actors share their views on how they are often discriminated in the industry
Hina Khan made her Cannes debut this year for her film Lines. Team Lines unveiled the first look of their film at Cannes 2019, and Hina Khan walked the red carpet of the prestigious film festival looking radiant, confident and fabulous. Her big debut, however, apparently wasn’t impressive enough for a certain film magazine editor, who took a dig at her red carpet appearance. The editor shared an Instagram story with Hina’s picture and captioned it, “Cannes has suddenly become Chandivali studios kya?” Fans of the actress and her industry friends took to social media to support her and to shoot down naysayers.
Hina Khan played it cool and was dignified in her response to the comment. The actress took to Twitter and wrote: Actor Nakuul Mehta wrote an open letter to the editor. He wrote, “Thank you for representing an elitist, almost archaic thought process which inadvertently, to your credit ended up sparking a dialogue that was held back for far too long within my community. No, Chandivali is not the problem. Far from it. If Cannes is the home of movies, then Chandivali Studios is also a home for thousands and thousands of hardworking artists and technicians in Mumbai both from television and the film industry...”
Tinaa Dattaa of TV show Uttaran fame said, “Hina or for that matter any TV actor should be encouraged rather than been made a target of unnecessary comments. Bollywood has to come out of their limited mindset. Television folks work very hard and no one likes to be commented upon at such a gala event where every actor wants to go but cannot.”
Nishant Malkani of Guddan Tumse Na Ho Payega fame said he was appalled at the remark made against Hina Khan. He said, “I am personally appalled and very angry. I feel there is no reason to be so demeaning towards a medium which reaches the maximum people in the world, not just in India. Films, of course, have their own place and make big business but television is where people’s hearts are. People every day switch on their television on time as we touch their hearts. I personally have huge respect for Mr Jitesh Pillai, but this kind of a comment from a man of his stature is unacceptable ( sic).”
Jasmin Bhasin of Tashan- e- Ishq said, “There is discrimination in the entertainment industry when it comes to television. when I want to wear a certain designer or go for a certain makeup artist or hairstylist, they would deny straight to my face because people don’t want to do it for television actors. They say they would only do it for film actors. I feel this discrimination is wrong because I am ready to pay the money and give them the respect… Then why discriminate and why is television considered as a small medium? Or television actors? I have seen many film actors looking at us and saying, ‘ Oh my God, she’s a television actress’. All these film actors come to television only to promote their films. I feel really sad for what happened with Hina Khan and I am really proud of her, she’s dealt with it and people cannot discriminate; we are all artistes and we should be treated equally ( sic).”
Popular television actor Samir Soni had this to say, “As far as the general perception of television is concerned, the television industry is considered stepchild/ sibling of the film industry, where the film industry is still the core standard the parameter by which actors and writers are judged. The television industry is booming with film actors turning to television and becoming successful. Amitabh Bachchan resurrected his career with television. There is still a bias in general opinion as everyone starts to become a film actor. The fact is a lot of TV actors are popular than film actors and I personally would rather do good television work than films ( sic).”
Tons of Hina Khan’s industry friends, even from Bollywood, were quick to come to the support of the actress. Farah Khan was one of the first ones to tweet out to her.