TV is my bread & butter, will never leave it: Mohit Malik

Television is often mistreated by actors who use it as a stepping stone to launch their film careers, but Mohit Malik says he is not going anywhere till the time he is being offered good roles in the medium.

The 33-year-old actor started his journey with "Miilee" in 2006 and over the years has starred in shows like "Jab Love Hua", "Pari Hoon Main" and "Doli Armaano Ki".

Actors who also commenced their TV journey around the same time have moved on to the films. But Malik says he gets "creative satisfaction" from the medium and that is why he choose to stay there.

"I love everything about this medium. There is nothing that I don't like about it. And that is why I have spent so many years here. I will be forever here till the end of my life. I get creative satisfaction from this medium. There are so many actors who say that they don't get creative satisfaction from TV but I get it," Malik told PTI.

"I think it is also practice for you as an actor. You come here daily and perform your part. So for an actor, it is riyaaz. This is what I feel about all this. I get so happy to perform in this medium. I get tremendous joy from it," he adds.

Malik also feels that the popularity of a TV actor supersedes that of a film star as people see them daily and consider a part of their lives.

"There is a lot of popularity that we get at the same time. There are times when people are not able to recognise the film stars. Because they love TV so much as it is only medium of entertainment for them. TV and its actors are quite big for them," he says.

The common grievance most actors have from television is that they are often offered either stereotypical characters or same roles that they played in their previous shows.

Malik considers himself lucky that he has never been offered same roles and says, "So far, the roles I have played both negative and positive roles. And in my last show, the character had grey shades. So, the example is in front of you. Change is happening. If you know how to work and play different characters, then everything will be fine with you."
He adds, "I work on my looks as well. In the last show, the look and personality of the character was different. I don't want the same thing to get carried forward to another character. This is what I tend to do that. So I try my best to play a different and a new character every time."
"Just for the sake of doing Bollywood films, I don't want to enter Bollywood. There are so many actors who are desperate for movies but I don't agree with this. Until and unless, I don't get the role of my choice, I will not leave TV."
"For me it is not the same character and I wanted to play it my way. It is quite different. I have never played a rockstar. Though he is a rockstar, there is a personal side to him and people will get to know how he lives his life. Music plays a very big role in this show because is a musical drama."