Actor Sumeet Vyas was one of earliest to hop onboard the digital medium, with the 2014 show “Permanent Roommates”. He says he didn’t have any idea back then on how it would affect his future but, in retrospect, it seems like the best decision he took.
“Taking up the web back then was one of the best decisions of my life. Even then, when I had taken up the show, I didn’t know how it’s going to shape up or how people would react to it, or if it’s going to make me famous. The idea was to work on something new and to work with new people. TVF was making interesting short videos and I just wanted to collaborate with newer people and it worked in my favour. I am doing that even today. The whole idea behind doing any show is to find newer things to do as an actor, to do roles which I haven’t done before. That will be the thought,” Sumeet told IANS.
The web seems to be a dependable platform to work with, the level of risk was high a couple of years back. However, for Sumeet, he didn’t have a plan in place.
“Back then, I wasn’t smart to have a strategy. I am always excited about doing new things. Even before permanent roommates, I did theatre for 13 to 14 years and anyone who does theatre has no plan in life of becoming something. He is doing stuff because he likes to do stuff. The kind of plays I have been doing we’re all experimental plays. So, it wasn’t a smart move, it was something which I wanted to do. In hindsight it became a very smart move,” shared the actor, who has also been part of web shows such as “TVF Tripling”, “The Verdict” and. more recently, “1962: The War In the Hills” in the capacity of actor or writer.
The actor, who has also been part of Bollywood films such as “English Vinglish”, “Love Per Square Foot”, “Veere Di Wedding” amongst others, accepts that his popularity on the web is way more than films.
The actor has a reason behind it.
“This is the only place where we could experiment. Bollywood had found itself stuck in a bit of formula. There were a couple of things you had to do, to make it work. So, there was little room for experiment. This (OTT) was the only space. As an actor, I did ‘Permanent Roommates’, as a writer I did a show called ‘Band Baaja Baraat’ and then we did the show ‘Tripling’. If I were to pitch the same idea to a film producer, nobody would have put in money,” he said.