Gouri Tonnk: Making a 30-sec reel isn’t acting

Mumbai, Sep 7 (AHN) Actress Gouri Tonnk, who is currently seen playing Madhavi Shah in the family drama 'Tu Hi Re Dil Mein', has spoken about how social media has changed the meaning of talent in the industry.

The actress, known for playing Jasleen in 'Teri Meri Doriyaann', Sakshi Chaudhary in 'Deewaniyat', said: "Well, the concept of stardom has not changed, but in my opinion, the concept of talent has changed with social media.”

She added: “Because many times on social media, those who have more followers are considered more talented. I hear from many people that they got rejected for some roles because they don't have a social media following, and I don't see any point in that. I mean, what does someone's talent have to do with their social media followers?"

Talking about the comparison drawn between reels and acting, Gouri said, "I mean, on social media you make a fifteen-second, thirty-second, sixty-second reel, and in daily soaps or films or OTT when you work, you are working the whole day, you are giving retakes, and sometimes you don't even get time for retakes. You are tired, you have not slept. I mean, you can't even imagine the conditions in which we work sometimes.

“Sometimes we have a fever, sometimes we are ill, and even after that we go and deliver a performance where the viewer doesn't even get the slightest idea that this girl or this guy might be unwell at the moment."

Recalling a challenging experience from one of her previous shows, 'Teri Meri Doriyaann', the actress shared an example.

“I did a scene when my voice was completely gone, very badly gone. And in that scene, I feel like my son is no more and his stretcher comes in, and it was a whole crying, wailing scene. And I told my director that, yes sir, my voice won't come out. I kept rehearsing and for such scenes rehearsals are needed for everyone.”

“So I said, please bear with me because it is possible that when I enact this scene, I might lose my voice, like for the whole day I might not be able to talk at all because my voice was not coming out,” said the actress.

"So he said okay, my director showed that confidence in me. They set up everything and we just did rehearsals without my voice, like this, and then we just did one take and that one take got okayed. But I can still guarantee you, looking at that scene, no one can tell that my voice was gone that day," she added.

Highlighting the struggles of television actors, Gouri these are all the challenges they face while working on TV.

“Mostly while working on TV, because the budget of TV is so small that just because one artist is ill, the shoot cannot suddenly be cancelled. Film budgets are big; they can mold things a little, which is a good thing again, but for TV, our poor producers don't have enough budget to cancel the day's shoot and say that this artist is ill so we will cancel the shoot.”

The actress added: “It becomes very costly. So these are all the challenges that we have to face while working on TV."

On the professional front, Gouri is known for featuring in shows like Kaamnaa, Shakti - Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki, Kaahin Kissii Roz, among others.