Actor Saanand Verma who is a well known for his films Mardaani, Chichore, Raid and Patakha says that it is very important to be responsible as a celebrity as lots of people are following you. He says that you can take a stand against and change lots of things as a celebrity.
“The best thing about being a public figure is that you feel more responsible about yourself not just for your family but for the whole world or society. Millions of people listen and follow you. As a public figure, you can bring a change and make a difference, you can bring societal changes and be a very good reformer and do great service to humanity. The responsibility rises, and the best thing is that you are responsible not only for a limited set of people but for a mass number of people. You are always under the scanner of the public eye and you have to think about everything you do as there are people who look up to you and follow you,” he says.
Ask him how he strikes a balance between his personal and public life, he says, “I try my best to avoid sharing about my personal life. As a public figure, my work and my actions should inspire people. Every person has some issues in their private life and I don’t want those issues to be public and since the public is emotionally connected to me, they might feel bad and worry which I don’t want to happen. The audience might get judgemental about me. The public can be judgemental about my work and performances which is fine but I won’t appreciate that about my personal life. My father was a very simple person and he couldn’t balance his work and personal life which affected us as a family and also affected my mental wellness. I try to balance my personal and professional life.”
Talking about what he shares and what he keeps private, he says, “If there is anything that inspires and spreads happiness, motivates people, or shows the path to people I share it with the people. And things that I feel won’t benefit people or it doesn’t concern them, I don’t share with the public.”
Ask him what he would like to change about being a public figure, and he says, “I would like to change one thing, and that is that if some fact has been in the media more than 3 times, then I think no journalist should ask the same thing again and again. It becomes irritating when such things are recalled, especially when it’s something unfortunate.”