'Extraction' actor Sudipto Balav: Content is key to survival

MUMBAI: Actor Sudipto Balav, who was recently seen in the Chris Hemsworth-starrer digital film "Extraction", says that content has to be strong enough to get eyeballs today. He feels that its not necessary that TV and films are at risk, the web can be at risk too.

"In today's times, the world has opened up. Gone are the days when the audience used to see what you wanted to show. If your content is not powerful, then the audience won't accept that, as they have many options. In today's times, if we want to survive in the entertainment industry, we need to concentrate just on content," he said.

"As far as entertainment is considered, everything is at the risk and in competition with the other because there is so much content and easy access and availability, the attentions span of the audience is becoming shorter and shorter. So, if my content does not have that strength and I am not being able to attract my audience in first few minutes of my show or film, I actually lose them, be it in whatever format. There are thousands of films on OTT which have zero popularity. It's not necessary that TV and films are at risk, the web can be at risk too," he added.

In fact, he said that the medium shouldn't matter at all. "Acting is basically a craft. If an actor is given any character, the first thought that should come in his mind is how will I do justice to this character. Only the technical part changes with different platforms," said Sudipto.

Talking about his own journey in the industry, he shared: "My journey of acting started long ago. Since childhood, I was always fond of acting. I did theatre in Kolkata for many years. Later, I did many TV serials. I used to write many TV serials as an assistant and independently as well. Then, I hosted a Bengali television show. I used to operate it from Hyderabad. In early 2000s, regional cinema was in trend and I was a part of Bangla cinema. I saw scalability in Bangla cinema."

"Then I came to Mumbai and, as everyone struggles, even I struggled here. But I must say that the city has been extremely nice to me. I meet some good people and some not so good people. From 2006, I stopped doing television and did ads, voice-overs for two years. In 2008, I got my first South Indian film in Malayalam, '2 Harihar Nagar', and there was no looking back."

SOURCE: IANS