“I do get my fair share of trolls,“ Actor Nakuul Mehta speaks on everything from TV stereotypes to dealing with trolls in this exclusive interview with Brut.
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00:00Burnout Laga, Burnout Laga, Zaroor De Tujhe.
00:03It's a newspaper, right? It comes every day, no one really cares.
00:06We called it Love Jahaaz. You know what it means, right?
00:15Hi, this is Nakul Mehta for Brute.
00:17What are some of the stereotypes for TV actors in the industry?
00:20That it will be OTT, and I don't mean OTT as in digital, it will be over the top.
00:27That's one. The second would be that, hey, regressive work.
00:31Number three would be, it's a newspaper, right?
00:36It comes every day, no one really cares.
00:38These are probably stereotypes for the work I think television generates.
00:42I beg to differ.
00:44You've never been boxed. You've always played characters that are totally different.
00:48I'm sure you've been offered roles that are similar to each other.
00:51Is it difficult for you to say no?
00:53Or did you ever feel proud after saying no to any particular role?
00:57I think saying no is the greatest strength I have.
01:01It's very easy for me to say no to opportunities which might economically be very rewarding.
01:07But I'm very clear on what I want from life.
01:09And so hence it's very easy for me to let go of reality shows or let go of things which I know will not make me happy.
01:16Because eventually what I really look forward to is just happiness.
01:20Why no to reality shows?
01:22I just feel that, you know, it's part fiction, part truth, part hyped up.
01:27If I have to do fiction, I'd rather do full fiction and do television or do digital or cinema, which I do anyways, right?
01:33So if I'm going to put myself out there, then it has to be the most authentic version of myself.
01:37And I anyway explore that, right? I do a lot of poetry.
01:41So I, you know, there are enough opportunities to do that anyway.
01:44So I'm not here to sell who I am, but I'm here to explore different characters, which only sort of acting gives me.
01:51Reality makes you like a version of yourself, which is not even you.
01:54Why would I do that?
01:56Your poems are so relatable, but you also get trolled.
02:00I do get my fair share of trolls and I'm so happy.
02:03That means that the message is going through, getting through.
02:05So a lot of the right-wing trolls which come after me sometimes don't even understand the nuance of it.
02:11And, but they know it's something about them.
02:16What are some of the hilarious ones?
02:18I remember we'd put up about a year and a half back.
02:24We'd done something on love. We'd called it Love Jahaaz.
02:28You know what it means, right?
02:31And I remember waking up to 25,000 comments on my Instagram and some half a dozen, thousand comments on Twitter.
02:39And I remember a lot of them said, burn all laga, burn all laga, zarur de tujhe.
02:45Do they impact you?
02:47Do they impact me? Well, personally, no.
02:50Because I know it's very easy to sit behind a keyboard, be unknown, random and, you know, just set out, send out threatening messages to people.
03:01I mean, if you really had courage in the real world, you would go out and make a difference, right?
03:05You're not doing that. So they don't threaten me.
03:07Of course, sometimes my family gets a little worried and my parents have, my wife has in the past.
03:12But they also know that no amount of conversation or dialogue would help because what their son is doing is also probably right.
03:19Somewhere you had mentioned that having a Hindu surname probably helps you deal with trolls.
03:24What do you have to say about that?
03:26I mean, it's much easier for me to make a comment or to speak about the government in power or even the opposition, which I'm not leaning on at all.
03:38It's because, you know, I have a Hindu surname and that's the truth.
03:42Given the times we are living in, in this country, it's not very easy to sort of be able to put your views out as openly and as freely.
03:53And I have so many friends of mine, so many Muslim friends of mine from the industry who so very often write to me and really thank me or congratulate me for being the voice.
04:02And I know that if they were in my place, they would probably do the same.
04:05Right. So, I mean, these are more tougher times we're living in and we've got to recognize that.
04:10And, you know, being an actor again sort of comes with some privilege of, you know, having your voice, having a certain influence at least or reach, which sometimes works against you also because people think you're an actor again.
04:24Hey, do that well, right? Don't do this.
04:28But, yeah, I mean, I have to recognize the privilege which comes with having access to good education.
04:33Privilege that comes with my surname and privilege which comes with, you know, having a voice and some sort of a reach.