Saurabh Dwivedi is learning a harsh lesson: excellence in one field doesn't translate to another. The Lallantop founder and political interviewer took on a major antagonist role in Netflix's crime drama Kartavya—and the internet has been unforgiving about it.
Abhimanyu Singh has stepped in to defend him. Speaking to Hindi Rush, the seasoned actor defended Dwivedi with straightforward reasoning and a sharp comparison.
"You can be excellent in one field, but that doesn't mean you'll be equally excellent in another," Abhimanyu explained. "He's a brilliant journalist. But acting is a different thing altogether." His analogy: "You might know how to extract venom from a scorpion, but that doesn't mean you should put your hand in a snake's hole."
Abhimanyu was explicit that he doesn't oppose influencers or journalists working in Bollywood. Everyone is trying to advance their career, he said. "Everyone's running their own race. If people are making money and growing from it, I'm happy for them."
In Kartavya, Dwivedi plays Anand Shri, a sinister godman whose ashram becomes the centre of a criminal investigation. The Netflix series has performed well with audiences overall, but critics focused on Dwivedi's performance—specifically his dialogue delivery, which sounds more like the 9 PM news bulletin than a morally bankrupt thriller villain.
Social media was harsh. Users compared him to some of Bollywood's most notorious acting failures. One comparison: even KRK (Kamaal R. Khan) would have done better.
Abhimanyu's point stands: acting is its own discipline, and talented people from other fields deserve the chance to learn it.
