Exclusive! Badtameez Dil's Barun Sobti: The audience for TV and films is very different

Barun Sobti is not as visible at media events as many of his contemporaries, but he still has a strong fan base. He is currently on a career high, considering his last release was the critically acclaimed web series Asur 2. Barun is also awaiting the release of his next, a romantic drama titled Badtemeez Dil.

While one could assume that, being popular, Barun would be able to bring audiences to theatres to watch his film. But, in reality, that is now how things panned out. The actor was a part of three theatrical releases, but they failed to do well at the box office.

In an exclusive conversation with OTTplay, we asked Barun about this. He said, "I started receiving a lot of film offers after I was doing a lot of work on TV. The assumption was that since I was popular on television, people would want to watch my films in theatres. But after the release of my film, I realised that it does not work like that. The television-watching audience and cinegoers are two different categories of audiences. So, we can't really put a finger on it. But there is no science behind it, and that is why even films by superstars do not work at times. Having said that, a lot of bad films have tanked at the box office because there is such good content available on streaming platforms."

The actor had become a household name with the TV series Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? His popularity increased with web films like Halahal and 200 Halla Ho and web series like The Great Indian Dysfunctional Family and Tanhaiyan, apart from Asur. 

Barun will next be seen in the romantic drama Badtameez Dil alongside Ridhi Dogra, which will be available to stream on Amazon miniTV starting June 9.