Exclusive! Duranga actor Gulshan Devaiah: Acting is easy, being an actor is tough

The actor, who has his hands full with multiple OTT and film projects, tells us what rejection means to him

Gulshan Devaiah

Actor Gulshan Devaiah is perhaps going through one of the busiest phases of his career. This year itself, he was seen in two web series — Duranga (the new season of which will be out soon) and Shiksha Mandal. He will also be seen in Anurag Kashyap's upcoming directorial venture, in which he is paired with Saiyaami Kher. He also plays a pivotal role in the Dulqer Salmaan-starrer Guns & Gulaabs.

In conversation with OTTplay, the actor speaks about how OTT platforms opened opportunities for him, that his definition of struggle and rejection is different from others, and more.

Gulshan said, " I don't think I struggle at all, at least in my initial days. I always wanted to be an actor and I feel fortunate that I got to do it. I have always been a well-paid actor. In my first few years as an actor, all the films that I did were with some of my favourite directors. That was nothing short of good fortune, because there are so many talented people, but not all of them get such opportunities."

"My struggle started later in my career, because acting is easy, but being an actor is a challenge," he added.

Elaborating on the challenges, Gulshan added, "Acting is something that you can learn. The struggle is to figure out how well a film will do, because your next job is based on that, not just on how good an actor you are."

Perhaps that is why the word rejection also has a different meaning for the actor.

"To me, rejection is when a superstar's film made on a Rs 200 crore budget doesn't do well at the box office. When you get rejected by the very audience you made a film for, it hurts badly. That's a bigger rejection than the rejection you get from an audition. Having said that, I have been receiving love from the audience and OTT platforms have enabled us to get more work," Gulshan said, signing off.

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