Harsh Chhaya on glorification of grey character, criticism on Undekhi, Animal: 'Morality ko apne sar par..' | Exclusive

Actor Harsh Chhaya, who is popularly known for the series Hasratein, Tara, Swabhimaan, and Undekhi has opened up about the debate of grey characters being glorified by the makers. In the past few weeks, especially after Ranbir Kapoor's Animal, a certain section of the audience felt that negative, problematic, morally wrong characters were being glorified and celebrated. 

Since 2020, Harsh gained huge popularity and appreciation for his character of Surinder Singh Atwal aka Papaji in Undekhi. Harsh's character is also a loud, foul-mouthed, sexist family head who is hiding many dark secrets within himself. On one hand, Harsh received appreciation for his portrayal of Papaji. On the other hand, many netizens asserted that Papaji is being glorified by the makers. 

In the exclusive conversation, Harsh reacted to the criticism of grey characters and said, "Duniya mein kahaniyaan har tarah ki hoti hai. Fiction bhi aur non-fictional bhi. Kya chahte hai aap? Aapko sirf aacha hi dekhna hai? Kahani kaha se banegi. Aastha channel ek hi ho sakta hai na, 25 toh nahi. 24 gante, 365 din aapko sirf aacha hi dekhna hai? (There are all kinds of stories in the world. Fiction as well as non-fiction. What do you want? Do you want to see only the good? Where will the story be made from? There can be only one Aastha channel, not 25. For 24 hours, 365 days, do you want to see only the good?)" 

He further said, "Basically, it's a storytelling format. Hum bachpan mein bhi padte the ki Hansel and Gretal ki kahani, us mein bhi ek witch hoti hai. Aachai aur burai har jagah hoti. Agar aap burai nahi dekayenge toh kahani kaha se banegi? (Basically, it's a storytelling format. Even in childhood, we used to read the story of Hansel and Gretal, there is a witch in that too. Good and evil are everywhere. If you don't want to see evil, then where will the stories come from?)" 

Harsh asserted that people can avoid watching problematic characters, but instead, they judge the makers' morality, "Problem yeh hai ki har cheez mein aapko morality apne sar pe le ke ghumna hai. Isse phir aapko dikat hogi. Hum aapko bas ek kirdaar dikha rahe hai, aapko nahi pasand aata toh mat dekho (The problem is that you have to carry your morality on your head in everything. We are just showing you a character, if you don't like it then don't watch it)." Speaking about Animal, Harsh said, "Uss director (Sandeep Reddy Vanga) ne ek sanki aadmi ki kahani batai hai. Aap kya kehna chahte hai ki aise log humare aas-pass nahi hai? Har kism ke insaan hote hai (That director has told the story of a crazy person. What do you want to say, that such people are not around us? There are all kinds of people)."

Harsh even said that if you want to get influenced by a dark character, like Papaji or Ranvijay Singh (Ranbir from Animal), then the problem lies within the individual. He said, "Agar aapne ek character mein role model dhundh liya toh aapki problem hai. Film ya series se samaaj banega ya bigadega nahi. Woh hota rahega. Aapko apne bacho ko sambhalna hai. Unhe bataye ki kya sahi hai aur kya galat (If you find a role model for an actor's character then it is your problem. A film or series will not create or destroy society. That will keep happening. You have to take care of your children. Tell them what is right and what is wrong)." On the work front, Harsh Chhaya was last seen in the film Kill and the series Gyarah Gyarah.