Shaan Mishra, who has been seen in shows such as ‘Lovepantii’, ‘Chhoti Sardarni’ as well as web series ‘Abhay 2’, ‘Gandi Baat 5’ and ‘Enigma’, says that the competition today is crazy. The actor says that looking at what others can do can take a toll on your confidence as well.
“It’s very difficult to get a role in TV. Even a small role is a big task to get and if you are planning to play the main lead hero, it’s really tough. There is so much competition as there are so many artists coming up. People are coming from NSD, FTII and other drama schools and institutions and theatre. People coming from such schools are really great and the competition is getting tougher. Mumbai, as it’s called, is the City of Dreams and people are in the race to fulfil their dreams here. You have to do a lot of hard work to reach that height. Yes, seeing these people, somewhere or the other, you feel that you should have learned those things, you feel you are lacking somewhere. Such competition makes you strong as you learn to polish yourself in a much better way and you come back stronger,” he says.
He adds, “So far, I haven’t played a main lead hero on big channels like Star Plus, Zee TV or Colors. When you play main roles in such channels you are paid big as you are working with big banners. Even if you are working on small channels, you have to polish yourself.”
Ask him if he feels TV actors need to have alternate careers too, and he says, “Your passion, dedication and honesty play an important role if you want to fall in the category of main lead hero. I don’t feel that a TV actor should have an alternate career because if you have the passion for acting then you shouldn’t think of anything else. Yes, it can take time to achieve your goals but you should keep learning from your journey. I am sure if you work with honesty then you are going to make it someday or the other. Having links in the industry in today’s time has become important as today people are getting easy work through their contacts, no matter how talented people are standing in front of you. Somewhere luck also matters.”
