Rohit Roy has had a lucrative career for 30 years with memorable roles such as Rishabh Malhotra in Swabhimaan. Today, Rohit opened up about the darker side of his career. As Rohit began his career as an actor for soaps and drama, the comparison his mentors, family, and friends credited him with to Bollywood’s legendary Shah Rukh Khan evoked pride within him, which ultimately let his downfall. The overnight night success for the soap TV series Swabhimaan only added fuel to the fire. “I had become immensely famous in a very short span because of my daily soap Swabhimaan. My character of Rishabh Malhotra was as popular as Sholay’s Gabbar Singh as such a character had never been seen on Indian television before. But all that stardom got to my head and instead of working on improving my acting and other skills, I only became more arrogant,” he shared in an interview, Mumbai Mirror reported. “I had come from a city like Ahmedabad and I went berserk after experiencing all that name, fame and stardom in Mumbai. And I do not blame anyone for it. It was all my fault… People even told me that I have the potential to overthrow Shah Rukh Khan. At that time, SRK’s Deewana had recently hit the theatres. Anyway, today we all know where SRK has reached in his career and life, and here I am, still struggling.”
Rohit was not able to handle to the significance and importance the role had, in terms of image, and it’s a comparison with Gabbar Sigh from the Bollywood classic, Sholay as well. Comparisons to legends of Bollywood locked Rohit’s potential, with all of his focus darted at the fame and fortune that supposedly came with being a celebrity. Looking back, Rohit regrets his perspectives of fame and strongly advises those new to the industry to be focused on the skill and craft in acting. On the bright side, he is also thankful for his roles. Though he has not reached where he could have, he seems happy about his career and being remembered for those roles.
TV soaps were not the only limelights in his career. He also worked on prominent films like Shootout at Lokhandwala, Kaabil, Paltan and Fashion. His latest project was the Mumbai Saga, starring John Abraham, along with Prateik Babbar, Mahesh Manjrekar, Kajal Aggarwal, Suneil Shetty, Emraan Hashi, Amole Gupte, Samir Soni, Glushan Grover.