Kohhra Actor Barun Sobti: 'TV Actors Have To Work Harder To Even Audition For Big Project' | Exclusive

Having started his career in 2009, Barun Sobti, over the years, became a household name with shows like Baat Hamari Pakki Hai and Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon. While the actor has proved his versatility with a variety of roles, even more than 15 years later, he feels that good roles coming his way are far and few. “Everybody has got their own temperament and not everybody has the patience. I’ve been around for a long time now but I’ve done very little work. So, good roles like the one I’ve done in Kohrra don’t come very often,” says the actor, who is currently basking in the success of Asur 2: Rise Of The Dark Side and Kohrra, as he exclusively speaks to News18.

He reveals that he even got impatient at one point but decided to keep going. “You do get impatient but then, you can’t act on impatience because it isn’t the kind of virtue you want to stand for. Things happen sooner to some people and later to some. You’ve to believe in yourself. Luck, I think, plays a big part as well,” he says.

Still widely known as a chocolate boy, does he believe that this image ever came in the way of work? “The problem with image is that it isn’t who we’re. It’s what people perceive who we are. My image was based on people’s understanding but it wasn’t me,” he states. Barun is quick to add that perception can become a bane for an actor and then it can get ‘very difficult to break out’. He elaborates, “I can’t go to every household and tell how I really am. Very few people watch interviews but that helps them understand who I am in real life. Establishing images is a bad idea. It becomes difficult to break the audience’s perception and hence, a filmmaker’s perception about you. Nobody can see you in any other way. There are very few geniuses like Sudeep (Sharma; creator of Kohrra) who will see something small and think that I’ve got something in me that makes them want to hire me for a job.”

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A general downside that television actors often talk about is the stereotyping and discrimination they face while being cast for a film or a web show. While Barun reveals that he isn’t at the receiving end of the same, he reiterates that it holds true for many television stars. “TV actors have to work harder to even audition for a big project. I can say this objectively because I’ve been around for a while now,” he tells us.

Barun further adds, “A lot of producers are my friends and I know exactly the kind of conversations that go on in conference rooms. And people [condescendingly] say things like, ‘Oh, this guy is actually from TV!’ Thankfully, they don’t say about me anymore but such conversations about TV actors still happen.”

16 years later, the 38-year-old shares that he’s in a rather ‘good space now’ with no stereotyping interfering with his career. Speaking about it, he points out, “I’m getting to do the kind of work that I want to do. People may still think something about me but what’s going on in my head is totally different.”

The Badtameez Dil actor continues, “When Kohrra came to me, I thought to myself, why me? And that’s the first thought that always comes to my mind whenever I’m approached for something good. Having said that, the child in me jumps with joy during such instances because I know that I’m going to be in a place where there will be 12 hours of bliss and I’ll be in the company of like-minded people.”