Exclusive! Shivaleeka Oberoi on insider vs outsider debate: I always had Sushant Singh Rajput in my Top 5 list of outsiders who made it big in the industry

Actress Shivaleeka Oberoi, who made her debut in Bollywood with ‘Yeh Saali Aashiqui’ in 2019, has reacted to the insider vs outsider debate which gathered momentum after the unfortunate demise of Sushant Singh Rajput. In an exclusive interview with ETimes, Shivaleeka spoke about how people need an 'accident or incident' to wake up and realize that they need to support newcomers.

She even spoke in detail about the hypocrisies that have stolen headlines, by sharing how no one went to theatres to watch her debut film, but received a flood of praise when it released on OTT platforms. Shivaleeka said, “I feel that the audiences did not realise it before this, to be honest. Only when something so big happens is when everybody wakes up. And that is I think very sad. You need an accident or an incident to happen and then people wake up and realize, 'Oh you need to support newcomers and outsiders'. So that is something that I kind of figured out after this entire noise came up and people started talking about how outsiders are talented and they have not been recognised. But even in 2019 when ‘Yeh Saali Aashiqui’ released, maybe it worked and everybody loved the film and they spoke well about it, but nobody went to the theatre to watch it because we were all newcomers. They had never heard our names. Maybe if there was a big star in the film it would have worked well.”

Shivaleeka, who was recently seen in a hit film opposite Vidyut Jammwal, also revealed that Sushant was always one of the actors in her list of top 5 outsiders who made it big in Bollywood. She even went on to say that she is a huge fan of Ranbir Kapoor and she believes that wherever he is today, it is because of talent. She said, “People want to see star kids and they already have a name before their debut, to be very honest. They already have millions of followers on Instagram even before they debut or even step into the industry. So that is something that only the audiences can change. It is nobody's fault. It is not at all a fault of any star kid because they are being born into the family and if they choose that career path it's their choice. But who makes or breaks a star is the audience. So I believe that we have extremely talented outsiders and insiders. I am a big fan of Ranbir Kapoor and I feel he is where he is because of his talent solely. There are outsiders like Kartik Aaryan, who made it so big, Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao, who have done extremely well. Sushant also had made it pretty big and I always had him in my Top 5 list of outsiders who made it big. But yes, audiences do kind of get to know things only when something big happens.”

Speaking about the shift in the audience's mindset after Sushant's untimely demise, Shivaleeka added, "Whatever changes are coming across, people are realising that they need to support self-made actors and people from the outside world with the people from inside. You need to support both. There should be an equal platform from the industry people as well in terms of recognition and importance when casting for films. I have been through a lot in the 1.5 years until I got my first film. People don't take well to newcomers very seriously until they make it big. So that is something that needs to change. All the castings need to happen solely on talent.”

When asked for a note of advice to the aspiring actors who want to make it big in the industry, she said, “I would just say follow your heart, follow your passion and do what your heart says and believe in your talent even when nobody believes in it because I don't think anybody believes in you until you make it big. And you can only make it big if you believe in yourself from day 1. So your journey is your journey. Of course, you need to work hard. Working hard definitely plays a very important role. If there are good days, there are bad days and then some very bad days as well. But what you do on your bad days make you ‘you’.”

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