- By Tapapriya Dutta
- Wed, 15 Oct 2025 02:26 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Thakur Anoop Singh, who gained fame with his performance as Dhritharashtra in the 2013 hit TV series Mahabharata, has been working to carve a niche for himself in the film industry. The actor made his transition from TV to the big screen with his 2017 debut movie Commando 2, led by Vidyut Jammwal. After working in South and Bollywood films for a very long time, he has now landed his first lead role in the Hindi movie Romeo S3, which was released earlier this year. As Anoop has been in the entertainment industry for over a decade, he shared the more challenging medium between television and films. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Jagran, the actor opened up about the struggles actors have to face while shooting a daily soap.
Thakur Anoop Singh said, “I'd say television is very challenging because you have to complete the episodes, you have to somehow work harder. TV teaches you how to be disciplined, how to be hardworking. Why it was challenging is because a lot of times we would go at a shift of 12 hours to 14 hours to 16 hours at a stretch. Because we had to meet the requirements of the episodes, the 22-minute episodes that we used to make at that time. The travel, the regular local travel also used to be very tedious. You know, it took 2 hours of travelling to reach the set and back and then 12 hours of shooting. So it was challenging, but it made me who I am. It made me work harder. In films, you can do one scene in one day, relax, no rush, you know. But it's more challenging on television.”
The actor also reacted to whether he had been labelled as a TV actor when he entered the film industry. He stated, “I didn’t. Because I did very limited shows on TV. I did only Mahabharata and another TV show I did and the other TV shows I did. Dari aur moochh ke vajah se, I used to hide my identity in them (Due to the beard and moustache, my identity was hidden). I used to do mythological and historical shows a lot, in which I used to hide my face. Which is why nobody called me a TV actor. Even if they had called me a TV actor, I would have still been happy because TV is a very strong medium to work on.”
“But for me, they mainly recognised me from Mahabharata and then from the South films that I have done. Now with this, I have grown. So I think, overall, they never called me a TV actor. But they just know Thakur Anoop Singh. That's more than enough,” he added.
Thakur Anoop Singh has been part of several movies, including Dharmarakshak Mahaveer Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Singam 3, Udgharsha, Naa Peru Surya, Rogue and Winner to his credit. He was last seen in Controll, which has been running in theatres since October 10. In the film, he can be seen playing the role of an Indian Army officer whose family is a victim of cybercrime. To take revenge, he uses the same technology against the scammers. Controll also stars Priya Anand, Rohit Roy, Rajesh Sharma and Denzil Smith in pivotal roles.