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EXCLUSIVE: IPKKND fame Akkshay Dogra on IG LIVE play, facing financial crisis, struggle to get good work
In an exclusive chat with Pinkvilla, Akkshay Dogra of Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon fame opens up on the play which he performed live on Instagram, facing financial crunch, exhausting all savings, struggle to get good work, and more. Read.
Akkshay Dogra has always been an impeccable actor but he has hardly got his due. Best known for his role in Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon and Dil Hi Toh Hai, Akkshay is currently on a sabbatical from the small screen. However, given his quest for work and experiments, Akkshay along with Padma Damodaran performed a live Instagram play, which was inspired by Harold Pinter's Betrayal. The play has been directed by Aditee Biswas. In an exclusive chat with Pinkvilla, Akkshay opens up on the play, facing financial crunch and exhausting all savings, struggle to get good work, and more. OVER to him:
What inspired you to perform play live on Instagram. It is unheard of...?
We started discussing this three years ago, she and I were discussing. Initially, the idea was to do it in an apartment where people could view us live. I call it hyper-real. For me, it is about putting up an act that is so real that it will incite an emotion on you. We kept thinking and thanks to lockdown, I just called up and said let’s work on it. We kept exercising and improvising and then decided to do it online. Then we started wondering where should we do it... YouTube or BookMyShow... but since this was an experiment we decided to do it live on Instagram. I did not want people to pay for this at this point because it is an experiment firstly. 
How has the response been so far? What did your friends and family say?
The response has been great. Almost everyone who has seen it has been blown away. I have got people from all around the world who have gone through the whole play, and they had such a great response. There have been people who are emotionally attached to it and wanted to know how we do it. There are so many people who after watching it have said that this is been their life and the words I spoke were said before. There were people who couldn’t watch it without crying. In fact, Barun Sobti, Sanaya Irani, Mohit Sehgal, Pashmeen felt it was my best work, but they might sugarcoat it. But, the people who reached out to me on DMs have also said that there is no match for my work in this project.
Did you have bouts of doubts during lockdown given that the struggle to get work has gotten tougher and the financial struggles?
I think we have all been facing some sort of financial crisis in the last few months due to lockdown. I have next to nil savings left, have exhausted it all. I wasn't working last year and had two films releasing this year but now after lockdown, we don't know. So, of course, I had bouts of doubts will it release, what will happen? Mumbai is an expensive city, most of us have drained out our money. That's when understood the priority.
How are you managing finances then?
My wife is supportive, we were childhood sweethearts and she was always working, so we balanced it out. But we have cut down on expenses. Earlier, it was like we need to maintain the standard, come out of luxurious cars because that creates a perception but the last few months have changed it all.
Many people have pointed out that actors who have worked on Television face certain discrimination in other mediums, typically films. How do you see it?
TV actors are looked down upon because of the platform. What I have tried to do is break away from this perception of being called a 'TV actor'. I am an actor, not a medium actor. We need a little time but if given an opportunity, we can also give the best performance. But, the problem is most of the work no one has seen, and it sucks but what can we do. When you decide to take a certain decision (creative satisfaction), you have to be ready for it.
What is happening to offers. Is there a dearth of it or you are being a little choosy and want to wait for the right project?
It was actually a mix of both. I decided to not do television two years back. My last stint was Dil Hi Toh Hai. After that for one and a half year, I had no work, and that's when I exhausted all savings, then when I got work, the lockdown happened, so yes, it was a mix of both. It is about familiarity. People talk about nepotism and all but I feel as human beings we tend to work with people we are familiar with, it is just that most people we are not connected to, and that is why the bridge. The creativity gets lost on TV because it is driven by TRP a lot.
About nonpayment of dues...
I am saddened by the entire culture on TV when it comes to money. They don't pay on time and then sometimes they say that take half of it and forget the rest, or wait for more to get the full payment. I mean, I hope that changes.
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