Nakuul Mehta opens up about ‘TV actor’ label, Shriya Saran reflects on ‘insane’ working hours: ‘I don’t think we take enough pride in television as a fraternity’ | Web-series News

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‘TV actors have insane working hours’

While discussing the challenges both TV and film actors face in transitioning to OTT platforms, Shriya Saran also lauded television actors for their hard work, particularly their demanding working hours. “What happens with TV is, you live with the character for so many months. Their working hours are insane. They literally work for 20 hours, so from the time they get to the set to the time they leave, it’s insane. 16-17 hours is normal.”

When Nakuul Mehta was asked if he had been in a similar situation, the Ishqbaaz actor responded, “Luckily its not happened to me. I made my contracts really tight. I care about my life. But that’s true, the biggest of actors on TV put those kinds of hours.” Shriya added, “If you are working for so many hours, and they manage to hold on to their audience for so long, it means they are such evolved actors. TV actors are super evolved in terms of the work they put in.”

Summing it up, Nakuul shared, “There are good and bad actors in all mediums, so to generalize is hard. But it is also upto you to be able to try different things. You wouldn’t know if you belong to a certain medium until you try.”

Nakuul on venturing into the OTT space even before its boom

Not many might know, but Nakuul Mehta produced a web show in 2016, 3-4 years before the OTT boom happened in the country. Nakuul said that taking the leap of faith, before the platform had fully evolved, came from a desire to carve out his own space. “When I started doing TV, after my first show, I said I really love this medium. I love how audiences get to sample your work, but I also wanted to do other work. But then people would not necessarily see you as a material for other work, so I thought I was going to create something that is my own. That’s also got to do with being young, stupid and courageous. I wrote a random yweet to Ronnie Screwvala,” Nakuul shared.

He added, “I had heard he was producing stuff online even before OTT came. I said I have a mad idea for you, and he wrote back with an email address. Then I emailed him the idea, and he asked me to present it to the creative director. I met Ronnie, and he said, ‘How much money do you need?’ So, you need to dream big. If you had asked me a few years ago whether I’d be sitting here giving an interview with Shriya, I would have never imagined it. She was a massive star when I was starting out. But it’s good to see at this juncture in her career she cares for good stories.”