Tota Roy Choudhury: People in Tollywood act like crabs, so you can expect baseless rumours

Tota Roy Choudhury is a busy bee juggling between his TV and film commitments with elan. The versatile actor has just wrapped up the shooting of Srjit Mukherji’s next Feluda series wherein he plays the titular role of the iconic Bengali sleuth. He’s also one of the most-sought after Bengali actors in Bollywood alongside Parambrata, Jisshu and Saswata.Yet, the actor often has to hear that he gets frequent offers from Bollywood because Tota is ready to accept less amount compared to Mumbai actors. Sadly, he hears all these things from the industry inside which hurts him the most.
“I know most of the people in Tollywood have the cancer zodiac sign. That’s why they always act like crabs. They don’t even have the idea that we get the same payment as per the national standard. They don’t understand that if Bengali actors are called in Mumbai the production house has to bear the extre cost like fooding, lodging, transport fair etc. The cost is less if they work with only Bollywood actors. Still, we Bengali actors are called because we have the credibility, we have the skills to impress all. Plus, there’s a process called audition in Mumbai. Unless you are an A-lister, you have to go through these auditions. 15-20 people audition for one single character. If we pass the test only then we get called up,” explains Tota taking a cheeky dig at those who spread rumours in Kolkata industry.

He further adds that regional actors are getting more offers because they are the fresh faces in Bollywood. “Bollywood now looks for fresh actors who can slip into any character. Also, here in Bengal shooting gets wrapped up in 18-20 days while a Hindi film takes at least 60 days to complete the shoot. So, we are fast enough. This is also another reason. At the same time, beauty, physical structure, dance skills – all these have taken a backseat in Bollywood now. Films based on original content are the preferred choice these days which Bengal has in abundance. That’s why actors from Bengal receive so many offers,” shares Tota.