Raghav Juyal began his television journey with a dance reality show. Popularly known as ‘Crockroaxz’ or the ‘King of Slow Motion’, he went onto host a bunch of dance shows before he shared screen space with Salman Khan in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. And recently, he turned over a new leaf in this career with ‘Kill’ that won him wide critical acclaim. However, his transition from non-fiction television to films hasn’t been a cakewalk.
In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Raghav reveals it was ‘a stupid idea’ to quit television. “I left behind my identity, comfort and money. At that time, my television career was at its peak. Leaving all of that behind and shifting gears is something that may make one look like a mad person. Having said that, I knew that the onus of failure was on me," he tells us.
What made it an even more difficult decision was to let go of the lucrative pay on television. “Every actor who has made that transition also know that OTT and films don’t give us the same kind of money that television did. I would go to shoot once a day and had a cushioned life and a vanity [van] back then. Jitna kaam karwaate the, utna paisa milta tha," says the ABCD 2 and Street Dancer 3D actor.
Not the one to mince his words, Raghav says that he’s already feeling the financial pinch now that he’s working in films and OTT. “We shoot for one-and-a-half years to two years for a project here. Before that, we prep for a year. I’m having to downgrade my lifestyle just because I want to do good stuff. But yes, there’s a lot of creative satisfaction here," he states.
Making the transition also meant unlearning a lot and ‘breaking out of a stereotype’ that television had boxed him in. “At that time, my coach Saurabh Sachdeva sir told me that my audience needs to forget me and that I need to be less visible even on Instagram. I did that for four-five years. After Kill and Gyaarah Gyaarah, he came and told me that what I did was a very brave step. It’s like I now know what goes behind erasing a mark made by a permanent marker to get back the state clean," Raghav elaborates.
At present, he remains busy with intense rounds of auditions to land a part. Talking about how he bagged Zee5’s Gyaarah Gyaarah through the same process, he says, “The makers understood the importance of auditioning an actor for a character. It’s okay to audition. In the West, the biggest of the biggest actors audition and give screen tests. It’s a good practice and thank god for this culture that actors like me are able to get work! If we were in that era where we had to carry our portfolios and stand outside production houses who we know would only launch star kids, humara toh kuch hota hi nahi."
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