From Sumbul Touqeer being rejected for her dark skin to Archana Gautam being mocked for not knowing English: Times when TV celebs struggled to get work

In an exclusive interview with ETimes TV recently, Bigg Boss 16's Sumbul Toqueer had spoken about being rejected at times for her dark complexion. The actress, who started working at a very young age, said in the past fair colour girls were choosen over her. It is not only Sumbul but many other actors and actresses in the past have spoken about being rejected for various reasons be it being fat, short height or not knowing English. A look at some of them.

Sumbul shared that she had to go through a lot of rejections for having a dark skin tone in the TV industry. Sumbul stated that because of her skin tone, many people denied giving her work as they wanted a fair-skin-tone actress on television. Sumbul told ETimes TV recently: “When I came to Mumbai my interest was never towards becoming an actress. My focus was to become a dancer but I had a change of heart. My initial days were very tough. I started as a child actor and whenever I went for auditions they only wanted fair skinned actors. The requirement was always for fair child actors. It was very demeaning and insulting. It was something which I never appreciated and did not like. For me colour complexion doesn’t stand importance. It would affect him badly and I had started to believe that if you are dark skinned you can’t be a lead heroine. All the heroines, if you see them all, were mostly fair. I don’t have anything against anyone but this is what I started to believe. But this stereotype broke when I bagged Imlie."

Kapil Sharma had shared many times about how before getting successful with his show he had faced rejection due to his weight and how he was denied being a host for the Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa show. Kapil shared “I was called to the Colors office. They asked me if I will host ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa’. I asked them what will I have to do. They said you and Maniesh Paul will host it. I said fine and they asked me to meet the production house. I went there and there, after looking at me, someone said, ‘Aap bahut mote hain. Aap thoda wazan kam karo (You are very fat. Lose some weight).” Kapil further asked the channel about it and asked them if they would like to do a comedy show and that's how Comedy Nights with Kapil started.

Gauahar Khan had spoken about facing rejection just because she was too good looking. Gauahar had gone for the auditions of Hollywood movie Slumdog Millionaire and was rejected for not looking like someone from a slum. Gauahar said “One of the biggest projects I lost in my life was because I was too good looking for it, and it was Slumdog millionaire. I have met Danny Boyle, and I have done five rounds of auditions for it. After the fifth round, he said ‘you’re a fantastic actor, are you sure you’re trained in India?’ At that time, I had hardly any experience, and I said ‘I’ve trained in India.”

Archana Gautam spoke with ETimes TV recently about having faced rejection and how everyone denied giving her work just because she was not fluent in English. Archana said: “The major rejection I faced after coming to Mumbai was for not knowing English. I would go to meet people and they would speak in English and I would not understand. Now, I have groomed myself and I know basic things. But back then people would look down upon me. They would think of me as ‘anpad gawar’ (illiterate). They would not say these things on my face, but they would not give me work and say baad mein batate hain (will let you know later) and I would get to know. I started to doubt myself and would think that people who have money, big cars, phones or are stylish can only get work. And I would not get work. There was so much struggle and I felt very low on confidence. My thinking has changed now and I feel everyone gets what they deserve, sooner or later and we should not lose hope. Just have patience and keep working hard.”

Sumona Chakravarti mentioned about being jobless yet feeding her family in one of her posts. Sumona shared “I finally did a thorough workout at home after a long time... Some days, I feel guilty even though boredom is a luxury. I may be unemployed, but I can provide for my family and myself. That is a blessing. Sometimes I feel very guilty. Especially when I'm feeling down from pain. Mood swings cause emotional havoc.” Sumona is now appearing in the popular comedy show The Kapil Sharma Show.

Nia Sharma shared about a 9-month sabbatical in her career which she hopes to never go through it again. She had shared “There was a nine-month gap between Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai and Jamai Raja. In Mumbai, I was completely alone. I had no peers because I was obviously new. I remained in my shell. I started working on myself and began learning belly dancing. Woh jo 9 mahine guzar gaye ki koi kaam nahi tha, kuch nahi tha, not a single penny earned, no friends... I believe that ek period tha jo dobara nahi jeena tha.”

Sakshi Tanwar, another television lead actress, too had career setbacks, and despite having done two blockbuster telly dramas in her career, she was unable to get work. She was popular as Priya Kapoor in the TV series Bade Achhe Lagte Hain, and before that as Parvati Agarwal in the show Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki.

As the characteristics of TV vamps are recalled, the wicked Komolika emerges in our mind. Urvashi Dholakia, the famed television vamp, is also one of the performers looking for job. Urvashi, who gave birth to twins at the age of 17, discussed her coming back to work after portraying Komolika. Urvashi said, “I returned to work, I got such a character ki koi paas main nahi bhatka tha." After playing that character, I received no job offers (referring to Komolika). They kept comparing me to that character, but I didn't mind.”