Dheeraj Dhoopar: I know actors, who are sitting at home for years, waiting for an OTT break

Having created a name for himself in the television industry, the Kundali Bhagya actor Dheeraj Dhoopar has now set his sights on OTT. The actor, who will be making his OTT debut soon with Tatlubaaz, co-starring Nargis Fakhri and has another TV show, Saubhagyavati Bhava 2, in the pipeline, says, “If I had my way, I would be doing TV, OTT and film simultaneously.”

The Sherdil Shergill and Naagin 5 actor admits that TV shows are a big commitment as you have to deliver daily episodes and it is not easy to juggle two mediums but he also doesn’t want to miss out on a good opportunity: “I have actor friends, who are sitting at home, for three to four years, waiting to get a good break on OTT and are refusing TV projects. I don’t want to do that.”

However, the one thing that irks the 38-year-old is people categorising him and other actors like him as TV or OTT actors based on their medium of work. “Since we adapt so many things from the West, why not, like them, call an actor an actor? Whatever I am today is because of [my work on] TV that has made me a household name. I don’t want to leave TV for anything, be it OTT or films. But yes, I would love to do projects on other mediums, as good as the ones I’m doing on TV. I will not take a project just for the sake of it. I am extremely happy on TV and I don’t want to run away from it,” shares the actor.

With around 14 years of experience under his belt, Dhoopar says that it still isn’t easy to bag the right kind of projects, regardless of the platform; it takes a lot of “effort and hard work” and also includes luck as being “at the right place and the right time” may just land you the role. “I have auditioned for big banner films, like (filmmaker) Aditya Dhar’s Immortal Ashwatthama for one of the primary characters, but things didn’t go further as the project got shelved.”