India — His acting career has been on an on and off mode, and Milind Soman admits that has been rather intentional because more often than not, he gets offered similar stuff, something that he wants to steer clear of.
“I have done limited work and it is mostly because I want to do stuff that I have not done before,” he reasons, adding, “A lot of actors not only in India but everywhere, they get caught up in their image. They do what people expect. The more popular they get, the more caught up they are and finally they are not even acting anymore, they are just playing themselves in movies.”
The 55-year-old feels that getting stuck in the rut is something every actor should guard themselves against, and he surely does.
“Whatever the opinion of people, however they may love you , they cannot dictate you as an actor. Once you stop experimenting and exploring different characters then you are dead as an actor. That is what drives my choices,” adds Soman, who has starred in films such as 16 December (2002), Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula (2003), Bajirao Mastani (2015) among others.
The actor has now started dabbling with a new space – the web – and has already been part of two series, Four More Shots Please! and the recently released, Paurushpur.
Acknowledging the contribution of OTT platforms to the entertainment world in the recent months, Soman says in the past one year, the digital medium has reached new heights.
“The format itself lends some much more freedom to people to create content and gain audience. Obviously it will become popular and it is fun. Everything is available at a click of a button. You can watch things that have been done 10-15 years ago. You can choose the journey you want with the OTT platforms. And I am not surprised at all that it is become so popular,” he concludes.