Today, social media has become a yardstick to gauge their popularity and also a governing factor while casting for projects. More often than not, people with an impressive following on social media are preferred over talented actors. Vijayendra Kumeria, who became a household name as Suraj in ‘Udaan’ and then in ‘Naagin’, was last seen in ‘Mose Chhal Kiye Jaaye’, speaks up about this new norm of social media followers.
“Yes, people do take your social media following into account, especially when you are offered projects from the OTT domain or music videos. It’s quite hilarious that your social media following is being considered an important tool to assess your talent as an artist. I don’t care about it much but I have to admit that I lost out on a few projects from good banners because I don’t have an impressive following on social media. I am happy with my organic following and will not resort to various tactics at an actor’s disposal to artificially amplify my popularity,” he says.
While social media bridges the gap between the actor and his audience, it can also expose them to a lot of toxicity, comparisons, and judgments. Vijayendra Kumeria has a solution for it – to reduce its consumption. He says, “I spend just an hour. I like watching reels and funny content. Having said that, when you are on it, there is no escaping sensitive, cringe content and trolling. That bothers me a lot.”
Many complain that what one sees on social media may not always be true. Does it expose our double standard? The actor agrees, “Yes, most of the people are fake and everybody is putting up an act. Only a handful are real. In my case, there will be glimpses of my life on social media but I will not put everything out there in a bid to grab attention. It has become a necessity these days to be active on social media otherwise you experience FOMO.”
