From experiencing casting couch to ill-treatment in TV: Vishal Aditya Singh details the dark side of Television Industry

Vishal Aditya Singh has given stellar performances on TV shows such as Begusarai, Kulfi Kumar Bajewala, Chand Jalne Lagaa, and so on. The actor became a household name for his acting chops, charm and more. In the recent podcast with Paras Chhabra, Vishal detailed his casting couch experience, how the TV Industry works, Reality shows and more. Here's what he had to share:

I was heartbroken when I got a call from the production house. They kept calling me constantly for the role and I kept giving them excuses as I wasn't in that state to see them. At first, I told them, I was away and would return after 7-8 days, to revert to that they told me that I would have to meet the casting coordinator for the role. Now, in those 7-8 days I understood what the casting coordinator wanted. He then kept calling me continuously and I lost my cool, then I finally agreed to see him for the project. I knew what he was planning so I was prepared for it. Already, I met my ex and I was not in the right mindset when he met me.

At first. he came to pick me up in a nail-polish-coloured car, Then he told me that we were going to his friend's place to sit and talk. While the drive was on, he asked me if I was comfortable with bare-body scenes and I simply kept agreeing to everything he said. This got him more interested, when we went to his friend's place, he didn't have the key so he returned saying that his friend wasn't home, so then I initiated that we should go to his place, which got him more intrigued. When we sat in the car, I held him by the neck and told him that I knew what he was trying to do. I would have surely caught hold of him, if he had shot the encounter, I would have made things difficult for him. Since then he understood and apologised.

When I was doing Begusaria, I got a lot of offers from the Bhojpuri Cinema. However, I did not want to do the content that Bhojpuri cinema was offering. I wanted to remove that content from Bihar so I did not want to be a part of it. However, I love this cinema and my culture so I would love to be a part of Bhojpuri content but only if it is something worth a try something like Gangs of Wasseypur or Nadiya ke Paar.

I don't have any problem with TV or the producers. I have a problem with how the Industry works. Here the work hasn't been validated, they don't care how many hours you are working for the show or how hard you are working for it. There is no value given to the work on the sets. It's an art, if you are given a character to do, in TV shows, the character has no journey. There is no depth to the character or any story. One day you will be asked to cry and you have to do it. Even if you feel that the scene could enhance or the character's trait would get highlighted by a mere suggestion, they wouldn't take it. There is no liberty for an actor to improvise his character.

They promise something and make something else, that is the biggest problem. That is one of the reasons, despite working for 11 years in the Industry but still when you go outside people don't take you seriously and say 'yeh toh TV actor hai'. I feel terrible that despite working for 11 years, I have to keep proving myself on different platforms. Then why are we actors, they shouldn't be labelled as TV actors right? An actor would act well on varied platforms.

They started treating you terribly, there is a lot of pressure as an artist on TV. They treat you like labourers, would scare you, and make you wait for 14-15 hours. After one scene, they wouldn't even notify you that your work is done. But then if a lead would come then they would complete all his scenes in a few hours and let him go. To be honest, the character artist and the lead somewhere earns the same amount but the character artist has a lot of work to do. They are satisfying their ego, I have heard conversations where they have stated that 'bitha ke rakho isko'.

Vikas Gupta once told me that Bigg Boss was too early for me. It took me a while but I understood that much later. Bigg Boss is a massive show, I understood that after doing it. The reason it was too soon for me was because I wasn't that emotionally mature when I entered the show. It gives massive fame, and I entered after Nach Baliye, I should have enjoyed that fame. I should have first understood how the show worked. It took me a while to realise that people aren't the same as they were inside the house. My perception changed when Madhurima entered the house.