‘Qurbaan Hua’ actor Nishad Vaidya says that the sudden boom of the OTT platforms, a lot has changed when it comes to building characters!

#NishadVaidya, who made his TV debut as a lead with the show #AmitaKaAmit (2013), was last seen in #BhaageReMann, which went off air in 2016. Having been away from the small screen for almost four years, the actor is now seen playing an antagonist

Aalekh in the show Qurbaan Hua. Talking about his long absence from the screen, he says, “After I finished with Amita Ka Amit, I was keen on exploring roles that had grey shades and so I did an episodic for a crime-based show, where for the first time I played a negative role and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although I have never focused on doing just negative or positive roles, I wasn’t getting any substantial work and decided to wait it out. Also, on the personal front, I was dealing with many issues and needed time to sort them out. I believe that phase pushed me to a darker place and playing Aalekh helped me deal with it. Playing a negative character has been like a stress buster for me.”

While Nishad feels lucky to have got a wonderful break as a lead in Amita Ka Amit, he feels lucky that he didn’t get trapped in the loop of only doing lead roles. “I had just shifted to Mumbai when I got my first break. So in the initial years of my career, I wanted to play the lead only. Later I realised that TV shows are driven by characters and not just leads. Also, since the sudden boom of the OTT platforms, a lot has changed when it comes to building characters. So now I’m looking forward to playing strong characters.”

Quiz him on what kept him busy in those four years and he says, “Apart from doing a few episodics, commercial advertisements and another show Bhaage Re Mann, I was constantly auditioning to get good roles and that has been a very rough patch. Once I had almost bagged a part in a big banner film but was rejected as I had put on weight for my debut TV show. So there have been days when I have cried and felt dejected but I would still consciously tell myself that this phase will pass. Apart from going for auditions, reading motivational books, meeting friends and family kept me busy.” On being asked how is it working with Sonali and Amir Jaffar’s Full House Media he says, “It is good to be working with the production house. Actors are well taken care of.”