Rushad Rana, who was recently seen in the role of the prime minister of Pakistan in Janhvi Kapoor-starrer Ulajh, has been a part of the industry for over two decades now. Having started his career with one of the most popular teen-dramas to date, Hip Hip Hurray, the actor has seen significant changes in the industry over the years. In fact, he stressed that the industry has lost its personal touch and has become more corporate.
He said, “In the last two decades, I have seen that earlier things were more personal. You went to a production house, you met the in-house casting department or the associate director, and if they liked you, you auditioned and got the part. Now everything has become very corporate, even in the way films are made. Now you only hear people saying 'project.' No one says, 'We are starting a new film.' They say, 'We are starting a new project.' So, I think this whole corporatization has made things very cutthroat and very impersonal.”
Rushad pointed out that earlier things were simple as there were fewer people. “To give you a very basic example, right from my first TV show Hip Hip Hurray—I mean, I was just one TV show old when I got a film like Mohabbatein,” he said, adding, “I know it wasn’t a very big part, but even then, I had gone to the office with Mehul Nisar, my best friend from the industry, and Nikhil Advani happened to see me. He was the associate on the film, and he said, 'Why don't you audition for Mohabbatein?' because he really liked my work in Hip Hip Hurray.”
He stressed that though today there are casting teams everywhere, there is not much information, especially after giving an audition. “You give an audition with all your heart, but you don’t come to know what happened or why you didn’t get the part. Only some of them have the decency to respond to your calls when you ask what went wrong,” he said.
