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Is
crossover cinema a boon for TV actors?
swetta
Keswani is just back from London after shooting for The
Memsahib; Sonal Sehgal is going to be seen in another
crossover film in April and Sandhya Mridul prefers roles like
that of Page 3 to doing frivolous television. So, is
TV losing its good artistes to the big screen?
 Not
really. Swetta did Love in Nepal with Sonu Nigam and
more recently auditioned for and got a role in The Memsahib.
Both roles, she says, came independent of her television background.
In her words, "Television has done nothing to my life as
far as film offers are concerned. In fact, Rajat Mukherjee who
directed Love in Nepal told me I should avoid acting
loud like I do on TV, for his film."
In
Swetta's opinion, Indian producers are still biased in offering
roles to television actors. "I am still struggling and
meeting people regularly. Everyone knows that my dates are
available yet producers prefer taking a flop actor or an absolutely
fresh face!" she laments.
Delnaz
Paul, currently seen on Sony's Batliwalla House No 43, however,
believes television is bigger than the silver  screen.
Delnaz, who did Sweetu in Kal Ho Na Ho, says film producers
opt for TV artistes who are known faces to freshers. "Filmmakers
know TV actors will deliver fast and good performances, as
we are one shot artistes," she points out. "We do
12 to 15 shows a day but in case of films, only half to one
scene is canned in a whole day. "
Delnaz
is currently doing out and out commercial films like Milenge
Milengeand Aur Pal Tham Gaya and is quite happy,
not caring whether a film is a crossover kind or not.
 Mauli
Ganguly, last seen in Raincoat, begs to differ. "I
haven't seen any TV actors getting substantial film roles,"
she stresses. "Television actors are familiar faces but
not stars. A few of them are nowadays even seen in Page three
kind of parties but still the differentiation exists!"
she shrugs.
Be it the Help Telethon, the Filmfare awards or the MTV Style
awards - the difference in treatment for TV actors is more
than apparent. "Except on the lead actors in a film,
makers hardly work hard on characterizations. I did Raincoat
because at least my character had a beginning and an end in
characterization. Crossover or offbeat films have hardly made
much difference. At the most it has increased the option for
TV actors to try to get a suitable break," she remarks.
Jaya
Bhattacharya however attributes all her success in film to
her TV roles. "Television is a big thing now. Acting
is acting, whether you act for television or films. I haven't
cared to notice if cross-over films have increased any options
for actors. It's just that the film scenario has changed as
a variety of films are being made and there is no fixed format
of hero, heroine and villain."
Ronit
Roy who recently acted in Kisna and will be seen in
Anup Jalota's Nishaan, sighs, "I have done better
work on television. In the last two years, I haven't got any
film offers in spite of being successful as "Mihir".
Is anyone
in Bollywood listening?
By
PRASHANT GOLECHA
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