Barun Sobti on leaving successful TV career for OTT: “I haven’t worked for a long time, so the idea was to switch” | Web Series News
Beautiful Barun Sobt Until 2017, he was quite the heartthrob of Indian television. With popular shows like Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon, she was certainly in the A-League of actors on the small screen, and then came a stage when the actor decided to make a switch. professionally. He made OTT shows in an era when not many people knew about the existence of the medium. It was a huge risk, but Barun reaped the rewards later. His latest show Rakshak India’s Brave Chapter 2 airing on Amazon MiniTV has also received great response.
Recently, the ace actor sat down for a candid chat with Indianexpress.com and reflected on his career choices. Barun definitely looks at life with a glass-full approach and sees everything as a blessing.
Also Read: Exclusive | Failures like Is Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon 3 are needed to keep you grounded, says Barun Sobt
Talking about his transition from romantic roles to more intense roles, Barun Sobti shared, “Your words don’t reflect your future. I have some understanding of my skill set, but no one sees that deliver until someone takes a chance on you, and you begin to align with the industry subconscious. You give up a million things, so there are only twenty things left for you to do. So these 20 things happen then. Another thing you’re doing subconsciously is you’re joining the world. You send messages about the work you want to do, and if you have to, you will go out of your way, even if you sit at home for half a decade, but do some kind of work. This message will be heard loud and clear while you are worthy.”
Barun left a successful TV career to enter the OTT space when he was in India’s nascent stage. The actor said he was inspired by the work being done in the West and “secretly hoped the same would happen in India”.
“I haven’t worked in a long time, so the idea was to switch. India tends to monkey westward every decade. So when the OTT revolution started, I kind of secretly hoped that the same would happen in India. It was heading for that place so I was hoping it would be big and I pulled through because amazing things were happening in the West at the time.
Accepting the fact that his television career came to an abrupt end, Barun added, “It was a big deal when I left television. Everyone seems to think this is the biggest area to learn more about, and it’s true. I was making trucking money at the time and suddenly stopped. I sat at home and did nothing for a long time, then I got lucky with OTT. It was a very carefully crafted career path. “
When asked what made him take such a big risk, he explained: “I took a huge financial risk when I said one day that I don’t need you to keep transferring money. But it depends on how far you want to take your creative path. You can either sit on a lot of money, smell the currency, or see how far you can push your creativity. So yes, you have to take the risk. I have a very supportive family. My wife was by my side all this time. It has a similar sensitivity. If I have to take on a job that doesn’t make me happy, he’s the first one to tell me not to do it. If I had continued doing the same thing with that kind of money, I would be in a completely different income bracket today. But with my career path, I tried to say something else. I tried to say that there will come a moment in my life when what I do will be relevant for the whole nation.”
Barun Sobti even briefly tried his luck in cinema and it did not work out as expected. So, when asked why the film industry doesn’t prefer the well-established names of the TV industry, the actor said, “It’s not like that, especially as we are Indians, the more material, the more fodder for us to talk about. . It just comes down to the fact that it’s a numbers game. You have to prove your worth for everything. I have so many filmmakers who absolutely love my craft, but the thing is, I’m not the kind of name that brings audiences to the theater right now. Everyone does it for their own business, there is nothing to take personally.”
In terms of work, there is a promising line-up for Barun. While he shares that the new season of Asur is being written, he adds that there are more web shows planned this year. Sharing a list of his upcoming projects, Barun said, “I’m working a lot. Next I did a show for SonyLIV called Raat Jawaan Hai. This is a very strange view of aging. There are two more shows to look forward to this year. One is a period drama called Donal and the other is Bawandar. It’s a political drama, again very coming of age.”
