Bowing out with grace
New breed of actors such as Uday Chopra and Shamita Shetty are not shying away from announcing their retirement publicly
When actor Uday Chopra decided to quit acting, he did so publicly by announcing his plans on a micro-blogging site saying that he 'isn't giving up on acting, but it's acting that's given up on him!' Actor Shamita Shetty too didn't hide her decision to give up acting, when she announced it earlier as well. While they are not the only actors to quit the industry after their careers failed to take off as expected, they certainly are among the few who have done so publicly, accepting that they have not succeeded as actors.
Quite a welcome change in an industry feel trade analysts and observers, where all such talk would be brushed under the carpet even though alternate career plans would have been chalked out secretly or there would be others who just fade into oblivion like Mamta Kulkarni, Anu Agarwal and such several other actors. So while there's no announcement of retirement plans, one would get to know of the actor suddenly turn restauteur or interior designer or just disappear from the film scene.
Trade analysts say most actors find it tough to admit that they do not have takers anymore. "No actor wants to admit that they are flop actors. So, they try to keep the cover on even though they must've started working on alternate career already. Not ready to give up completely, they do keep trying every now and then," says trade analyst Komal Nahta.
Trade analyst Bharti Pradhan agrees that it's indeed a very "courageous and the wise thing" to do for an actor to accept that the career did not go as planned and so change tracks. Citing example of yesteryear actor Zaheera, she recalls that after a successful start, when her career in Bollywood failed to continue on the same high, she made it public knowledge that she was quitting films to go back to London. "But that was a rarity. Not many have the courage to wake up and smell the coffee," adds Pradhan. She also gives the example of actor Ronit Roy, who despite a good start in Bollywood gave up acting when the career nose-dived. "He did a smart thing to go in for an alternate career in security biz. But also he did overstep his ego to do TV back then and see to what stardom it has catapulted him today. He's back in the reckoning in films too," she highlights.
But then there are other actors who inspite of branching out as entrepreneurs have not announced retirement, even though they aren't doing any films now. "Fame is addictive and it's hard to accept that you have been sidelined by other actors," said an actress on anonymity.
New breed of actors such as Uday Chopra and Shamita Shetty are not shying away from announcing their retirement publicly
 | |
When actor Uday Chopra decided to quit acting, he did so publicly by announcing his plans on a micro-blogging site saying that he 'isn't giving up on acting, but it's acting that's given up on him!' Actor Shamita Shetty too didn't hide her decision to give up acting, when she announced it earlier as well. While they are not the only actors to quit the industry after their careers failed to take off as expected, they certainly are among the few who have done so publicly, accepting that they have not succeeded as actors.
Quite a welcome change in an industry feel trade analysts and observers, where all such talk would be brushed under the carpet even though alternate career plans would have been chalked out secretly or there would be others who just fade into oblivion like Mamta Kulkarni, Anu Agarwal and such several other actors. So while there's no announcement of retirement plans, one would get to know of the actor suddenly turn restauteur or interior designer or just disappear from the film scene.
Trade analysts say most actors find it tough to admit that they do not have takers anymore. "No actor wants to admit that they are flop actors. So, they try to keep the cover on even though they must've started working on alternate career already. Not ready to give up completely, they do keep trying every now and then," says trade analyst Komal Nahta.
Trade analyst Bharti Pradhan agrees that it's indeed a very "courageous and the wise thing" to do for an actor to accept that the career did not go as planned and so change tracks. Citing example of yesteryear actor Zaheera, she recalls that after a successful start, when her career in Bollywood failed to continue on the same high, she made it public knowledge that she was quitting films to go back to London. "But that was a rarity. Not many have the courage to wake up and smell the coffee," adds Pradhan. She also gives the example of actor Ronit Roy, who despite a good start in Bollywood gave up acting when the career nose-dived. "He did a smart thing to go in for an alternate career in security biz. But also he did overstep his ego to do TV back then and see to what stardom it has catapulted him today. He's back in the reckoning in films too," she highlights.
But then there are other actors who inspite of branching out as entrepreneurs have not announced retirement, even though they aren't doing any films now. "Fame is addictive and it's hard to accept that you have been sidelined by other actors," said an actress on anonymity.
No comments:
Post a Comment