Hrishikesh Pandey philosophises, ‘Being famous is both a blessing and a curse’!

There have been constant talks around how there should be a balance of both finite and infinite shows on the tube. Actor #HrishikeshPandey too agrees with the point of view. Apart from making money and topping TRP charts, TV needs to focus on content and not drag a show for years.

“Dragging a show at times affect the creativity and even performance, all these leads to audience losing interest in the same. Earlier we used to have episode bank and story and everything were planned in advance. But now we work on a daily basis. Storyline, characters are changed depending on how a track works with the audience. It’s good so far. The problem happens when one track works and everyone else start following the pattern. That’s when creativity gets comprised again. A producer is putting money on a show to make sure it runs and he also get to earn from it. After all one show runs many kitchen. So we should have both variety going on to make things move smoothly,” he adds.

Someone who believes in taking up challenging roles and also experimenting with his looks, Pandey says all these helps in the growth of an actor.

“It’s not just about working and doing any role that you are offered. That’s does not take you far. Apart from doing what I do best, I am always in the lookout for challenging parts. Actors are trying hard to look different, present something new to their viewers. To be in the competition we need to engage our audience. We need to surprise them with our work,” shares the Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai actor.

Pandey has played a variety of roles and have tried his best to add a new flavour to each of them. While most of his characters are strongly inspired from reality, he says when an actor plays a character which belongs to a different time frame, it is quite challenging.

“My double role in Porus is one such experience. I had to learn how to fight, horse riding, sword fighting and also imbibe how people conducted themselves in that era. On the other hand, the challenging part in of my role in Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai this is also quite challenging because of how I needed to speak in the Rajasthani dialect and also change my body language. I am playing a negative character and I need to behave in a certain way,” he says.

Happy with how his career has panned so far, Pandey is looking forward to more challenges. He is content with all the fame, money and love for the audience, and hope to live up to the expectations of his fans.

“Being famous is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because we have been working on certain projects like C.I.D. So, wherever you go, people know you, they show you respect and shower you with love. Sometimes they end up believing that we are real life cops (laughs softly). But then there is no privacy. It happens that I had stepped out for lunch with family and people came up to me for photos and autographs without realising much. But I guess we need to accept that. And I am not complaining. At the end of the day it’s a part and parcel of our work,” he concludes.