TV actors in B-town

There was a time when beauty pageants titles were considered as a ticket to Bollywood. Perhaps now Television has taken that place. Rightfully so, as today TV is no longer a media just for kids, housewives and retired. With advent of categorized channels like music/ news / youth based/ for kids / general entertainment, TV has emerged as a media for all masses. It's popularity and penetration is unmatched.

We have seen so many TV actors / personalities who had found a foothold on television and still took the biggest leap to foray into Bollywood. All these TV celebs had humongous fan following and that is what transpired them for the jump.

The list has no end to it. Be it Sushant Singh Rajput of Pavitra Rishta; Amit Sadh ofGuns and Roses; Prachi Desai of Kasamh Se; Yami Gautam of Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam;Ayushmann Khurrana of MTV Roadies season 2 fame; Rajeev Khandelwal and Aamna Sharif of Kahin To Hoga; Amar Upadhyay and Pulkit Samrat of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi etc. etc. etc…

And how can one forget Vidya Balan and Shah Rukh Khan. We also saw Ram Kapoor,Ronit Roy, Mona Singh, Renuka Shahane, Rohit Roy doing significant guest roles. Latest to join the bandwagon is Hussain Kuwajerwala and ASR aka Barun Sobti whosedebut movie are lined up for launch this summer. News of Karan Kundra signing a three movie deal is also doing rounds.

This emerging trend of transition from small screen to big screen signifies that today in terms of popularity, TV actors are second to none. Does that mean B-town's perception about TV actors has changed over time? I guess not really. There is no dearth of talent on TV today and just like our movie stars, TV actors are also expected to exhibit their skills in drama, dance and action. Their screen popularity adds to the list of positives. Yet why is it that still most of the movie debutants are from non-TV background? Why do we have only a handful of TV actors getting an opportunity to test the waters?

Even post the transition, why their success story is not precedent to their TV performance? The names above were at the peak of their TV career and still had the guts to call it quits knowful that only few have been enviably successful in this media. There are some who are yet to enjoy the fruits of commercial success and most had to settle for cameos.

Will our popular TV actors get a fair chance for making big in B-town and not just settle in for cameo? Will they be able to make it large in cinema as well? While the latest success of Kai Po Chehas set the road but it is still too early to say if indeed our beloved TV actors will be able to break free from the TV actor tagging and get to share similar stardom as non-TV movie stars.

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