There's no reason to look down upon television: Ananth Mahadevan

National Award winning filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan says for him "films are larger than life, TV is smaller than life and theatre is real life".

The actor is back on TV with "Aadat Se Majboor", aired on Sony SAB.

"I started my career with television and theatre. There is no reason to look down upon television even though it is a smaller medium. Theatre, television and films, each of them have got a certain perspective," Ananth said in a statement.

He added: "I always think that films are larger than life, TV is smaller than life and theatre is real life. So after I did lot of serials with big stars like Satish Shah and Farooq Sheikh, I graduated in film direction. I got three national awards for my film and I continued to do off beat cinemas. I think somewhere in my mind I wanted a break from direction."

Ananth feels direction is such a great responsibility and the show "came at the right time when I needed a good mental break".

"Everything worked perfectly for me and it was the right opportunity to make a comeback on television with acting," he said.

Mahadevan's directorial venture is "Aksar 2". He has acted in "Baazigar", "Akele Hum Akele Tum", "Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta".

What made him do a comedy show like "Aadat Se Majboor"?

"I was not away from television on purpose. The scenario on Indian television is not something to get excited about. I started my career on Indian television in 1983. I worked under film producers like Sai Paranjape, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Gulzar. Those were the people who made serials and started the trend.

"They set a very high standard which was difficult to emulate. Later, when I started direction on television in the 1990s, I did not find anything exciting as an actor. After all these years, director Dharampal approached me for 'Aadat Se Majboor'. He said I would fit perfectly into the part. Everything worked in my favour and of course, I wanted to do comedy for a long time. So, I decided to do this show."

--IANS

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