No one is your enemy, you are solely responsible for your own success and failure: Rakesh Bedi

Veteran TV, film and theatre actor Rakesh Bedi is quite a busy man. Apart from Zee TV’s Qubool Hai, he is also doing around 6 to 7 plays. “Along with Pritam Pyare Pappuji, ( that also stars Mouli Ganguly and Mazhar Khan), I am also writing and directing one more play that also stars Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher. We have many shows booked all over the world,” the actor informs. Ask Bedi, who was a part of the first TV sitcom Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984) that if stage is accepting a large number of small screen actors for their glamour, he shoots back, “Stage needs nobody. Agreed that these faces draw in the audiences but you need to sustain them through your hard work and talent. Patrons can walk out midway if they don’t like what you do.” “All those actors who say that they don’t have time for stage are lying. If I can do stage constantly over the past three decades, anybody else can do it as well.” Rakesh informs adding that today stage is definitely getting more money. When Paresh Rawal does stage, his play tickets rates go up to Rs 1000. Even the front row seats of my comedy play Pritam Pyare Pappuji were going for around Rs 500 to 600,” he adds. Since Bedi has been around for many years, we ask him what is the biggest lesson that he has learnt about the industry. “No one is your enemy, you are solely responsible for your own success and failure. No one has the time, will and the inclination to pull you down. For this is a highly competitive industry and everybody is fighting to make their own niche,” he opines. The actor/director also feels that one must not grudge the world if they are not around when your chips are down. “For this is the way our industry operates. If you are not able to recognize this truth it will only trouble you and nobody else. "At one time even Mr. Amitabh Bachchan was out of circulation for a quite some time before time gave him a fresh lease life. So does it mean that he was a bad actor, it is just a matter of time. So does he now say that the industry had betrayed him back then,” Bedi questions.