TV actors have mastered the craft of switching on and off, says Aalisha Panwar

While film, as a medium, gives actors time to prepare, TV, on the other hand, is more spontaneous, says actress Aalisha Panwar. The actress adds that a double role on TV is very different to how it is in films as you need to switch between the two characters almost instantly - Jyothi Venkatesh

“TV actors have mastered the craft of switching on and off. If we are playing a double role, positive and negative, we have to switch between the two characters instantly.

If say right now, I am in an outfit where I have to play a negative character, I am in that zone. Immediately, I have to go to my make-up room, change my clothes and come into a positive zone.

That makes us good actors. We know how to switch on and off and how to do that. We train ourselves overnight,” she says.

Talking about how it works in other mediums, she says, “There is a huge difference between a film and TV show. In a film, as an actor, you have a larger scope of doing your best.

You have months to improve yourself. You have months to get into a character and learn the nuances of the character. Also, if you need to learn a dialect or a skill, say horse riding, you have the time to master it and then portray it in front of the camera.

When you are shooting for a film, it’s just a 2-3 month shoot and there are gaps too. So, you have more time than what we have on TV.”

She adds, “TV is vice versa, you don’t have too much time. If you are portraying a homely girl and tomorrow the channel wants to give her a Bhojpuri dialect, you need to learn it overnight and from the next day, you need to start talking in Bhojpuri on camera.” However, she focuses on her performance, says Aalisha.

“Shooting-wise also we have more burden. We need to shoot 12 hours every day. Even if you are sick, you might have to still work.

But every medium has its own ups and downs. As an actor, if I have to talk about entertainment, any medium of entertainment, Bollywood, TV, digital, - everything is challenging. But I love all the mediums as I am an actor and my job is to perform,” she says.