Mumbai: Yeh Hai Chahatein actor Manas Shah left Ahmedabad in 2008. For twelve years after that, acting was his only income. The choices he made during that time weren’t driven by vision. They were driven by rent.
He said, “First of all, if there is a role offer, then it is my priority. Because I used to live in Mumbai only on the basis of this. I didn’t do any other work. So I needed money for survival. You need money to pay the bills, to pay the rent, and other expenses to maintain your body, to maintain your health, to maintain PR, to maintain relationships in the industry. Everywhere you need money. Mumbai is a costly city to stay in.”
His approach was practical, not idealistic. He said, “I was very sorted. After one point, I was like, first of all, pay the bills. Accept that role. The bills are being paid. Everything is fine. If there is enough money and if you can stay one year without any single rupee income, then I try to play this type of role for 3-6 months. I can show choices there.”
He refuses to judge anyone for making a different call. He said, “It is person to person change. Nobody is wrong. If someone is giving preference only to the role, that is fine. But if someone is giving preference only to the money, then that is also not wrong. It is person to person choices.”
On whether male or female actors get more variety, Manas sees a clear split across mediums. He said, “If you talk about television, then definitely female actors get more variety. Because 90% of shows are female oriented. But if you take films, cinemas, then 90% of the time, if you ask someone who was the hero, that comes first. The heroine comes later.” “Cinema is more male-dominated and TV is more female-dominated,” he ended.
