Akangsha Rawat: Social media has turned actors into a self-running business

Many actors have started their careers in showbiz with modelling. Actor Akangsha Rawat too falls in the category. 

“I started with ad films and print ads in Delhi, worked in the music video, ‘But it rained’ by the English rock band, Parikrama. That was my first big break followed by a Telugu film as a lead in Hyderabad,” she says.

A lot of times, actors advertise which they don't even use or endorse. There have been many talks around this practice.

“I never accept a product by any brand to endorse on social media unless I can use it. So I try my best to not mislead my followers. Doing a commercial ad film is different, the audience knows you are paid to endorse it as an actor. Even there I try not to do it for a brand that uses unethical practices or if the product is harmful for health,” she adds.

In earlier times actors used to focus on acting. But now with the social media revolution and technological advancements, actors have become a product and are ending up doing things in the name of marketing and promotions just because everyone is doing it or because of the pressure of taking promotion and marketing as mandate tools for an actor.

“Yes today an actor's worth is sadly measured in terms of how many followers they have, which may be because of various reasons. An actor’s popularity on social media is no indication of how good an artist he or she is or how many fans they can get for the show. We all are forced to run this race to gain followers, and because of the same, it has put a lot of mental pressure on actors and is not favourable for an actor’s mental health. The image we as actors are forced to consciously or unconsciously project is often glorified and misleading or not entirely true, and it adds to the stress or illusion of the fans and audience as well,” she says.

Do you think actors are losing their original self and goals of focusing on craft and wasting energy in trying to match the current times? “This race concerning social media popularity is so time consuming, that it has distracted us from concentrating on our craft as an actor or even focus on leading a quality life. We do things just to be able to post it. We are constantly churning content and not living life's beautiful moments. Most of us actors have gotten disconnected from our original personalities and have become what looks good on social media and what will attract more followers. Social media has turned all actors into a self running business that we need to desperately run in order to survive. And the sad part of it is that it has to be run with focus not on the strengths of the business but mainly on the look of it, the presentation,” she explains.