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Audience is smart, knows who fits the bill: Manik Papneja
The Made in Heaven 2 actor feels at the end of the day, it is your talent and honesty towards your craft that will take you forward.
Actor Manik Papneja feels the insider-outsider debate should be done away with .
“This is an old-school thought for me. If you have your parents’ or relatives’ connections here, that can get you work once or maybe twice but what after that? At the end of the day, it is your talent and honesty towards your craft that will take you forward. Otherwise many come and go even after much hyped launches. Today, the audience is extremely smart and knows who fits the bill,” says the Loop Laapeta (2022) and Made in Heaven 2 (2023) actor.
With a background in theatre, Papneja who started his screen career with an OTT series, asserts that had not web not become so big, things wouldn’t have been the same for many actors like him. “Web space has been a saviour for many. I didn’t realise how I started from Baked 1 and reached the third season. It was never looking back for me ek ke baad ek web pe kaam milta gaya,” he said.
Papneja, made his silver screen debut with a film directed by debutant Avnish Barjatya, he says, “I was glad to be part of the project helmed by Sooraj’s son. The film Dono (2023) also saw debut of Rajveer Deol and Paloma Dhillon. It was an experience of a lifetime for me. Many asked me how it was working with star kids but trust me mujhe aisa kuchh laga hi nahi. On sets it was an easy atmosphere and I never felt left out or an outsider struggling to find a seat,” he said.
