Apara Mehta calls out casting of influencers on OTT: Ek minute ka reel banaane se acting ka nahi pata chalta hai

In today’s day and age, social media presence has come to play a major role in an artiste’s life. But veteran actor Apara Mehta, known for featuring in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, says she is rather unaware of social media trends and instead prefers to keep the focus on her talent. She also call out casting of social media influencers over experienced actors.

She tells us, “If my name comes for something, they (casting directors) say, ‘Oh no, she is a very popular TV face’. The look on their face is like, Arey yaar nahi chaiyeh. Overexposed lagta hoga unko face.”

She emphasises that as a veteran, she is unaware about social media trends and prefers to showcase her real talent of acting, adding, “I came last year on Instagram, I was not on any social media. I was a name before anything called social media was there. I don’t have it in me. Hume selfie nikaalna, pout karna nahi jamta hai. That’s not who we are as actors. But today, that has become such an important part.”

Mehta further shares that it is unfair to judge an artist’s work on the basis of a one minute reel. “When someone is an influencer or just making reels, no disrespect to them, but to be an actor, it requires much more. To carry your character, you need to know what the director is telling you and you need to read between the lines. Ek minute ka reel banaake, acting ka nahi pata chalta hai yaar. If followers are the criteria, then I’m sorry, but what to say about it. That cannot be the criteria for casting,” she says.

Expressing her desire to work in OTT, after working in the television industry for 25 years, the veteran shares, “I was really looking forward to doing nice work on OTT. But, I did not know how to go about it as I did not have any manager or anything. I am a TV actor and people in OTT look down upon TV actors so I never tried anything. Film stars are also doing OTT. So, for me as a TV actor, it gets even more difficult to get OTT because they prefer a bigger name of a movie star. But, after the lockdown, magically, Decoupled fell into my lap, after which I was also offered Staffroom. I am very happy to be on OTT, though I would also mention that I am a proud TV actor.”

Mehta also requests people to not look down upon television actors, as she says, “Many actors who have straight away gone to OTT, look down upon TV. Please don’t look down upon the medium. TV still has a very big reach, everywhere in the world, so one cannot look down upon it. It puts you in practice. If people feel ki TV karte hain then OTT nahi kar sakenge, then that’s a very big mistake. Stereotyping TV actors is happening a lot. But we do catch eyeballs, just like film stars. A good role should come to me.”

“How can you discard my experience as an actor? With my experience, why should I not do OTT? Don’t they know what kind of work I have done in all these years?” Mehta ends with a question.