‘TV has been infested with bad content and bad actors’
Actor Gurdeep Kohli talks about how digital content is all set to give tough competition to TV shows
Gurdeep Kohli is not averse to portraying a mother in a TV show. The actor says she often gets such roles because she returned to work after a hiatus, but she doesn’t mind that. She says, “As long as I have an interesting role, a central part that doesn’t have me just standing in the background, I don’t mind playing a mom. I did that in Kasamh Se, when I wasn’t a mother in real life. But I want to do strong roles in shows that are channel drivers or be the face of a show.”
The actor, who rose to fame with the medical drama Sanjivani, is excited about playing a mother in an upcoming historical drama. However, she says that costume dramas can be quite exacting. “I had an elaborate costume in my previous serial, Sethji. I love dressing up for a part. My look in the new show makes me feel royal and like a queen, but it also gets a bit irritating, as you have to spend more than an hour getting dressed. But such grandeur helps you stand apart on screen, and that’s what matters,” the actor says.
Gurdeep is also doing a web series with Ekta Kapoor and she feels the platform is just as good as TV, if not better. “Web shows are exciting and stories on the digital platform are more realistic compared with television.” The show also stars Ronit Roy and is a love story about how things go wrong in a marriage.
She adds, “Web series are the current trend and people get hooked to them, but TV shows will always remain popular. Over the past few years, television has been infested with bad content and bad actors. There is no other avenue for actors to pursue, as films are difficult to crack, so they chase TV shows. Digital content is a boon for actors. Not just for the budding ones, but also for established and talented actors who don’t get good roles in TV shows. Web series have better production values and better stories, and will give tough competition to TV shows. Enough that TV show makers will have to pull up their socks.”