MUMBAI: While social media seems to have become an ideal place for celebrities to reveal spicy details about their personal lives, potential controversies, and steamy anecdotes, actor Sachin Parikh says that the audience’s focus should be also on your talent and not only on your personal life. He adds that it is important to balance what you reveal, and what you hide.

“Shielding your personal life from the public eye can be quite tricky. I would say it's an occupational hazard at times. Once you are a public figure, you need to know what to protect and what to reveal about yourself. In fact, it all boils down to how you deal with the media, your fans and paparazzi wherever you go. The true test comes when you need to balance what to reveal and when to protect your personal time. You can't disappoint your fans and audience and at the same time can't mess up spending personal time with your loved ones and your family, away from the public glare,” says Sachin, who was recently seen in Ravi Yadav’s Main Atal Hoon. Sachin has been part of PK, Aligarh, Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji and Jack & Dil and OTT series like Crackdown 2 and Avroadh2.

Ask him how he decides what to reveal and what to not, he says, “I am a private person by nature and I restrain myself while revealing details about my personal life. But I also make sure to give my fans everything that they want to know about me. As an actor, my daily routines, my diet, my time management, my travel and holidays with family are out on social media. I feel it motivates and inspires people to live life with zest and enthusiasm. But when it comes to my personal struggles, difficult situations, personal disputes with friends and family, I make sure to not bring it out in the open.”  If at all my family and friends do not want them to reveal, their discreteness is of utmost importance.

He adds, “Social media has changed the scenario completely. Tweets to emojis, everything is on your finger tips. Smartphones are handy and so are our personal lives. Recently, we saw Alia and Ranbir bringing their cute little angel, Raha, in front of the paparazzi. Such couples set benchmarks at times to others how they deal with the media.”

He says that social media can change the game for you, but it is for you to decide what to post about. “I feel revealing too much on social media may give you that instant fame or publicity, and definitely add to your popularity; but nothing bigger than your work, and that can help you become much more popular. That's organic and is also long term. The process may be slow and take years to build, but that's the only way out. Irfaan khan, Pankaj Tripathi, Nawazuddin and so many such actors are examples of those who are popular and how but their struggles and body of work is a process which has made them popular today. Every good thing takes time,” he adds.

Talking about who he looks up to in this field, he says, “Paresh Rawal is one actor I am acquainted with and have known since my childhood, we all have seen his journey as an actor. I have seen his both personal and professional life, and he really inspires me to handle such things with ease.”