Gurmeet Choudhary on TV actors being looked down upon: 'Sushant Singh Rajput did help remove that baggage'

Most recently seen in the film The Wife, Gurmeet Choudhary remembered the time when he wanted to switch from TV to films.

Actor Gurmeet Choudhary started his journey in the entertainment industry with Ramayan and has now made a mark on television, in web shows, as well as films. Remembering the initial days of his career, he revealed that he was often told that people won't pay to watch him on the big screen as they saw him, daily, on TV. He added that Sushant Singh Rajput's Bollywood success improved things slightly.

Actor Gurmeet Choudhary featured in the horror film, The Wife.

Gurmeet made his film debut with Vikram Bhatt's Khamoshiyan in 2015, which was jointly backed by Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt. Gurmeet went on to feature in many other movies, including The Wife, Wajah Tum Ho and Paltan.

Gurmeet told Indian Express in an interview, "I became quite popular after Ramayan and while I would get film offers, none of the popular production houses called me. And I was sure I wanted to make my film debut with a big film. And this is why I continued to do television. I must add here that Sushant Singh Rajput did help remove that baggage somewhere. After his wonderful debut, people started scouting for the next TV star, and that’s how I got picked.”

“Around seven-eight years back people had this major misconception. I have had directors tell me that people see you on TV every day, who will pay to watch you? However, things have improved a lot and actors are no more boxed. Also, television stars have their fans all across the world. When someone signs us, they automatically also get a set audience as our loyal fans would watch those projects for sure. If people understand this, then things will only get better for us."

Gurmeet had told Hindustan Times in an interview last month, "My dream was to be a hero in a film. I came from a small town and didn’t know where to start. I dreamt that people would sing songs featuring me. Thankfully, I was able to start my journey in films. I feel lucky that I got the chances that I did in my career as I am not the most talented actor or the most good looking, as there are better actors than me out there but here I am. Going forward, I want to work more and do more films, each year. Due to the pandemic, people haven’t seen me act in over a year, though I had signed two films. Thankfully, they will release soon.”