Rajveer Singh is not very anxious about the low numbers of his Star Bharat Muslim social, Sufiyana Pyaar Mera. “As an actor, my only job is to put in my best, which I am doing. Other factors like ratings are not my prerogative and we actors are anyways known to be selfish, preferring to stick to what we can control.”
“But all is not lost, for after a bad start, we are beginning to get back on track. Our ratings recently went up by 0.2.”
What has gone wrong? “Given the huge stakes involved, no one would want to make a bad show. It’s just that you learn on the job. There are always shortcomings, which we as a team learn from,” says Rajbeer. “Another thing I will admit is that TRPs also depend on how good a story is and after working in TV for a bit (debuted with Kya Qusoor Hai Amala Ka), I understand the challenge that small screen writers face in churning out 20 minutes of content on a daily basis. It is very easy to diss a story, but the truth is way more complex.”
“There are a lot of other variables, including marketing and promotion, which work in tandem with creative calls to make a show tick.”
Is there not a fear that if numbers don’t get better in quick time, the show might go off air?
“Well, nothing in life is a guarantee. Sometimes, even good shows/movies tank. You can never second guess the choices of the audience at any given time.”
“Therefore I prefer to live each day as it comes. More than me, the producers (Danesh Javed and Prateek Sharma) would be worried if something indeed is going wrong.”
Rajveer also has no problems in accepting that TV is a women-dominated medium. “It is high time that the fairer s*x got its due. At least there is one profession where men alone don’t call the shots.”
“I am not insecure that co-star Helly Shah (double role) gets the lion’s share of scenes. All said and done, I am quite happy, for my character has a lot to do. Zaroon was a different carefree dude back in Canada, but in India, he changes as per situation (family clashes. “Doing such stuff keeps you on edge as a performer, which I love.”