Rajesh Kumar: Once you are seen as a good performer then people gain the confidence to cast you

In the entertainment industry, it is said that ‘jo dikhta hai woh bikta hain’ means that you need to be visible to be saleable. This adds to a lot of pressure. Actor Rajesh Kumar speaks about it.

“Yes definitely, because we get another after doing one in the first place. Once you are seen performing well then people gain the confidence to cast you. This doesn't add to any kind of pressure till the time you are shooting well. But everything does have to be seen and it has to be released. Like all the films I have done, it will only translate for me, only if it gets released. So, we all bank a lot on ‘jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai’ because people often look out for your shows or recent work. If you are not seen in the recent work, the process does not go smoothly,” he says.

While we can reveal all that we want on social media, not everything about every celeb is grabbing attention.

“Over the period the attention span of people has gone down to six seconds. So definitely anything that is glamorous, has some humour and also has some important message works. There are different kinds of reels or different kinds of social media activities that the audience or people look-out for, some look out for humour, some look out for trash or something else. So according to me whatever I am going to put on social media has to have a balance of good message, good humour, a little bit of glamour, and definitely has to be informative. So if I serve that, I think my audience will like to see that. In general, everything is working today, but sometimes I also feel trash is working a lot and that is not good,” he adds.

Actors who have no attention-grabbing intention, mind their own business, and may sometimes go unnoticed in spite of doing good work as an actor.

“There are many actors who don't want people to invade their privacy. So there are many works that do go unnoticed. I have been there and experienced it. As far as my farming and all has gone, definitely people know about it but I won't say that it attracted the segment whom I wanted to be a part of. Whether it is normal people or politicians and farmers. So the groundwork I had to keep on social media didn't help me so much in getting noticed about the kind of work. So yeah that's the kind of experience I had gone through,” he shares.

Actors are going through a lot of professional pressures be it taking up a project. Social media, competition, insecurities, looks, or audience reactions to their work.

“A lot of professional pressure only happens when you are paying too much attention to something that is not going to really matter to you. So, if you are diverted too much by all kinds of social media, competition, and insecurity then definitely the pressure will keep on mounting. But the fact is whatever suits you, I mean I generally invest myself into something which for me doesn't have to prove something. I don't land up in any kind of competition. I only focus on business and work, so I look out for good work and I give my 200% to the good work. I enjoy it and the pressure never happens to me. I do get pressured about the audiences’ reaction in a positive way. That is like feedback but never pressure,” he says.

One should be ambitious to be successful, but then how much is too much. “Every day you have got some good work to do, some good projects. I think that's how successful one should be. Till the time you can work or are feeling healthy enough and are being accepted as an actor, I mean that's the ambition you should be nurturing. You should be relevant enough. Once you think you are relevant enough, you are successful,” he adds.

Are you satisfied with the way your career is shaping up? “I am absolutely satisfied with how my career is shaping up. I am enjoying the journey from television to OTT and then to films. I am just enjoying this journey because meaningful work is happening for me. A matured work you can say. Now I am prepared for all these platforms as an actor and there is a requirement for actors like me. So definitely the work will happen and you'll definitely get the good roles. The more you are seen, people will design characters around you. So I am very happy with the way things have shaped up,” he ends.

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