MUMBAI: Actor Mahesh Shetty, known for his memorable roles in television, including Pavitra Rishta, has now been focusing more on OTT and Bollywood projects since quite a while now, expanding his horizons beyond the small screen. He tells us, “Television gave me a lot of love and respect as an actor, but I wanted to explore further into different mediums, be it theatre or OTT or films, I am here because of TV. I am actually still open to TV, but only if something really interesting comes up,” adding, “Wherever I get to act, I want to be there. I believe in going with the flow and not restricting myself to any particular medium.”

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With an open-minded approach to opportunities, Shetty wants to keep his theatre practice aligned with other work. “Whenever I get some time at hand, I love revisiting my theatre days too. Anyway, times have changed now, and actors are performing in different mediums simultaneously. Even newcomers have the same struggle of getting work, be it OTT or Bollywood. So, it doesn’t really matter if you are coming from TV or what,” the 39-year-old expresses.

Emphasising the essence of creative fulfillment, Shetty outlines his criteria for selecting roles, prioritising substance over stereotypes. “The kind of roles I’m expecting must be creatively satisfying for me and, at the end of the day, must give me a good night’s sleep,” the Fighter actor affirms and continues, “As an actor, I don’t believe in restricting myself to just protagonist antagonist tags. I look more broadly at the projects and scripts that come my way. I’m primarily looking to do different characters with the potential to perform.”

Having ventured into the realm of OTT before, Shetty lauds the platform for its creative freedom and plethora of opportunities. “I have done a couple of OTT shows before as well. Creatively, it is very satisfying because you get to explore so many good characters, content, and stories,” highlights Shetty, who is awaiting his next OTT release Kaan Khajura.

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The actor has done his Bollywood projects with significant breaks, with Banjo (2016), Bhuj: The Pride Of India (2021) and now Fighter this year. Ask him why and he shares, “It’s always been a conscious decision to keep a gap between all my projects. Only if anything good comes up, something challenging or it interests me a lot, I take it up. I just didn’t want to randomly pick things that didn’t interest me. I was happily doing theatre and I still keep doing that, I keep travelling and that keeps me busy.”

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Credits - Hindustan Times