Followers matter more in the entertainment industry now

It was his effortless performance as Dr Sahil Sarabhai in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai that brought this talented actor to limelight. Born to a Tamilian father and a Kannadiga mother, the ever-youthful looking SUMEET RAGHAVAN considers himself a true blue Mumbaikar. In a conversation with SAURABH TANKHA, the actor who played the young Sudama in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat in 1988, talks about his three-decade plus journey in the entertainment industry, on how challenging is it to play characters audiences relate with, how he keeps himself fit, his life and more…

Entry into the entertainment world
I entered the industry in 1983. As I was an introverted kid, my mother took me to an acting workshop, thinking it would help me open up, get confident and mix with others. And she was right. This workshop did wonders to my confidence.

Faster Fene, based on the lives of five Marathi kids, more or less on the same lines as Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series. These characters were written by noted children’s author BR Bhagwat

After the workshop, I did a show called Faster Fene, based on the lives of five Marathi kids, more or less on the same lines as Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series. These characters were written by noted children’s author Bhaskar Ramachandra Bhagwat. Fene is a surname in Maharashtra and though the real name of the character I played was Banesh Fene, he was known as Faster Fene as he worked at a fast pace. It was a big hit in Marathi households. After watching it, noted theatre-film-TV actor-director Sulabha Deshpande and Madhura Jasraj (wife of Pt Jasraj and daughter of V Shantaram) decided to remake the series in Hindi. When Sulabhaji asked if I was interested in doing a role, I immediately agreed. We shot 26 episodes in 1986-87 and the show did fairly well.

Survival of the fittest
There has been no looking back ever since. But for a brief period of time, there was a lull since I was neither a child nor an adult. However, I did a lot of theatre during this period. In fact, I migrated from St Xavier’s College that I had joined initially to DG Ruparel College as it had good theatre activities, and I also wanted to get a hang of the Marathi theatre. Slowly, I started doing Marathi theatre.
I did a Hindi film in 1991, but it didn’t see the light of the day. Between 1991 and 1997, there was limited work and despite the fact that my wife (Marathi actor Chinmayee Surve) was doing theatre, we struggled to make ends meet. During this period, I did a lot of voiceovers and dubbing assignments – this is something I continued doing till long. I dubbed for a number of Hollywood flicks – for Miles Logan/ Detective Malone in Blue Streak, for detective James Carter in Rush Hour 2 and for Tom Riddle/ Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets among others.

From playing a driver in Hudd Kar Di to one of the main characters in Wagle Ki Duniya: Nayee Peedhi Naye Kisse, the journey over these three decades plus has been incredible

There was not much work in TV during those days as it was the transition period – Zee, Star and other channels had just come in. This is when Sachin Pilgaonkarji offered me a role in Rin Ek Do Teen, a Marathi countdown show, basically doing satires on classic movies. Then Hudd Kar Di (HKD) happened in 1999 and I started moving up the ladder steadily. From playing a driver in HKD to one of the main characters in Wagle Ki Duniya: Nayee Peedhi Naye Kisse, the journey over these three decades plus has been incredible. Not easy but a lot of fun at the same time.

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and thereafter
It was in 2003-04 that actors-producers-directors Aatish Kapadia and JD Majethia connected with me for a role in Khichdi. But it didn’t work out. They told me about their plan to start another show, and asked if I was interested. I said yes, and hence was born Dr Sahil Sarabhai. But Sarabhai vs Sarabhai didn’t have the impact we had envisioned then. It went unnoticed. I think it was way ahead of its times. But today, 17 years later, it is a monster of a show.
Sarabhai vs Sarabhai was the first time I enjoyed working in the industry as it was not a run-of-the-mill role. In 2006, Aatish offered me Resham Dankh, based on his Gujarati novel by the same name. Though it was a fantastic story, the channel interfered and messed it up all. Then, I did Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo (2009) and Badi Door Se Aaya Hoon (2014) with Aatish and JD.

The second season of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai again didn’t catch audiences’ savvy. There were two reasons: one, it was on an OTT platform and two, we had changed the look of our set

In 2015, the second season of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai happened but again it didn’t catch audiences’ savvy. There were two reasons for this: one, it was on an OTT platform and two, we had changed the look of our set. Audiences didn’t like this change as they missed the Monalisa painting, the big pillars, the clock… In fact, we got a number of calls from people asking why did we have to make all those changes!
Meanwhile, I also did a few films, including U Me Aur Hum, with Ajay Devgn-Kajol in 2008 and Holiday with Akshay Kumar in 2013. When you do a movie which enters the Rs 100 crore club, you have this feeling that it will open a few doors for you. Though nothing of the sort happened with me, I’m quite content as an actor. I think this has a rub-off from Aatish and JD who give you that feeling of contentment. I feel it is better to be associated with one production house which does good work and has policy driven and honest people like Aatish and JD at the helm of affairs.

Aatish and JD give you a feeling of contentment. It is better to be associated with a production house with policy driven and honest people like them at the helm of affairs

The changing face of industry
There have been some pluses and some minuses over the years. Everything is on the move now and there is a sea of content to choose from. Though the kind of information which technology is providing nowadays is huge, we need to sort it out and compartmentalise it. We indulge in everything except learning which this medium can best get us. The flipside is that all this is available, 24×7. It is important that there is a cut-off time like we had it back in the late 80s. Another big minus is that we have become very touchy content-wise. There are certain subjects which one can’t talk about any more through films or television as a backlash can be up there, waiting for you.
Today, we are living for likes and followers. We have become followers of followers. In the entertainment industry, the casting has now started happening basis the number of followers you have. Talent doesn’t matter anymore. The chances of casting a person with 10 lakh followers for a project is more as then there is a surety of those number of people watching the show and TRPs increasing. And this is quite a scary situation.