After trying his hand at films with Student Of The Year 2 (2019), Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui (2021) and Babli Bouncer (2022), actor Abhishek Bajaj returned to television after six years with the show Jubilee Talkies. Ask him about the comeback and he says, “I have always been on television, so it was never like coming back to TV. In these 6 years, I would have said no to about 80-90 shows though as nothing excited me.”
‘TV actors need to take a stand for themselves in films’
Bajaj joined the list of actors who made a transition from the small to the big screen, but he has complaint with the artistes who make this switch. “I have seen many leading actors from the small screen, who are doing great work on TV but go mute in films. That’s the problem. While you are doing great work on TV, you suddenly choose nominal roles in films just for the sake of it. I have seen actors go mute and hardly have dialogues. They need to take a stand for themselves,” he shares.
‘TV is still the core of Indian household’
The big screen is still considered a level up from TV by many, yet he decided to come back to it. Mention that to Bajaj and the 31-year-old says, “As an actor, my job is to blur the line between mediums. People who think TV is a lesser medium need to realise that it has a bigger reach. Many film actors have revived their careers on TV, including Amitabh Bachchan ji who did Kaun Banega Crorepati, and it turned into a cult show. It’s not a lesser medium anyhow and is still the core of Indian household.”
{{/usCountry}}The big screen is still considered a level up from TV by many, yet he decided to come back to it. Mention that to Bajaj and the 31-year-old says, “As an actor, my job is to blur the line between mediums. People who think TV is a lesser medium need to realise that it has a bigger reach. Many film actors have revived their careers on TV, including Amitabh Bachchan ji who did Kaun Banega Crorepati, and it turned into a cult show. It’s not a lesser medium anyhow and is still the core of Indian household.”
{{/usCountry}}But what kept him from working more in films? “After Babli Bouncer, I was getting offers on similar lines, and the case was the same after Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui too. People in the industry try to play safe, but I don’t function on that principle. I want to explore and evolve, and TV gave me that opportunity with my new show. I wasn’t able to utilise my full potential in films and people also wouldn’t have had anything new to see in me,” he responds.