MUMBAI: Aly Goni, who won several hearts for his stint in “Bigg Boss 14”, believes popularity on social media doesn’t guarantee good roles.  

Aly, who has cemented his position in the industry with diverse work across fiction and non-fiction shows, observes social media popularity has nothing to do with an actor's talent.

“There are so many good actors who have very less followers or there are some who are still away from social media. So I don't think it's important to have more than a million followers to get good roles,” he says.

The “Yeh Hai Mohabbatein” star does think social media has given an actor a true identity and that there is a closer connection between fans and actors.

“Earlier people used to know an actor by only their character names, but now because of social media people can get a closer look at actors. Nobody has so far asked me this question but I feel everyone would want to have someone known by the millions, so there is nothing wrong with that.

But having said that I feel this criteria should be given the least preference because social media fan following doesn't guarantee that someone is a good actor,” Aly says, when asked if social media following impacts the work offers an actor receives.

He is quick to add that creative people might scan the social media profile of an actor to gauge their standing and power in the market. But he doesn’t believe actors are chosen for a project depending on their popularity on social media.

“I don't think so (they chose actors based on social media followers). I am sure they must be going through their profiles just to know how active an actor is on social media, and how much visibility their project can get because of them,” he states.

Aly says since he was locked inside Bigg Boss house he is unsure if such practice is being followed. “People do ask for social media handles, but I have not heard anyone ask for the number of followers,” he adds.