4 min readNew DelhiMay 5, 2026 07:08 PM IST
Actor Shekhar Suman has criticised the growing obsession with social media visibility, arguing that “one strong performance” can outweigh constant online presence. He cited Akshaye Khanna and Rakesh Bedi as examples, praising their work in Dhurandhar 2.
During a chat with India Today, Shekhar said, “There’s far too much emphasis on only being seen around, and likes, and being seen and being appreciated. They get depressed if they don’t get as many likes as they had imagined. That kind of thing. You believe in your talent, believe in your craft, and the rest, everything is going to follow.”
The actor further added, “And for actors, it’s not important to be seen around on social media. I don’t think so. Your work should speak for itself. When people see you on screen, they will remember you for years.”
Citing Akshaye Khanna’s example to prove his point, Shekhar Suman noted, “Akshaye Khanna, for 10 years, was nowhere. No partying, no social media, no nothing. One performance and that’s it. He decimated all those notions about being seen. These are weak signs by weak people, and I strongly believe that one strong performance is equivalent to so many of your reels that you made, and so many times that you were papped, and so many times that you were seen.”
He added, “It really doesn’t matter because people are not going to give you extra marks for being seen around if you’re giving a bad performance. So a good performance is a good performance, and that’s it. It doesn’t need crutches.”
Having said that, Shekhar Suman clarified that talent alone is not always enough. According to him, the right opportunity plays a decisive role in shaping an actor’s journey. “An actor is nothing without opportunity. Why Mr Amitabh Bachchan doesn’t succeed for 13 movies and come a cropper, and then suddenly he emerges like the big superstar? How? He got the right opportunity. He gets a Yash Chopra, he gets Javed Saab to write his lines, he gets Khayyam Saab to give the music, and he gets the right script, the right characters, the right image building, the right character energy – all of that combined. So it’s the opportunity that you get that makes an actor what he is. So I feel all actors are the same. It’s the opportunities that differ.”
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Besides Akshaye Khanna, Shekhar also praised Dhurandhar actor Rakesh Bedi. He said, “Before Dhurandhar released, I was in Itanagar. I was performing, and he (Rakesh Bedi) had just performed and gone. He called me up later. He said, ‘Sheku, you have to watch this film, Dhurandhar, which I have done. You will really love me. It’s a great film.’”
The actor added, “I had not imagined that the role would be so extensive. I probably imagined that it would be different, but this different – I mean, it probably must be a surprise for him as well. So this is what a role does to you.”
The 63-year-old then went on to praise Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, starring Ranveer Singh in the lead role. Dismissing concerns around the film’s length, he shared, “Yes, I watched it. I watched both. I didn’t sleep anywhere. That’s because it was a long film. People said that you will sleep while watching it, but nothing like that. People were sitting on the edge of their seats.”
