'work my best when I’m insecure': TV actor Mishkat Varma reveals how self-doubt pushes him

Mishkat Varma and Manasi Salvi

A decade into television, Mishkat Varma has learnt to turn self-doubt into fuel. The actor admits that insecurity keeps him from becoming complacent and pushes him to work harder on his craft. "Self-doubt helps me perform better. I don't like being complacent. And I don't like compliments. I don't want to know [how I performed]. If you don't tell me anything, I'll assume that I'm doing well. I work my best when I'm insecure," shares the actor, who accepts that his new show, Dillon Ki Ram-Leela, has "cut all my comfortable nuances".

In Dillon Ki Ram-Leela, Varma plays the trusted personal assistant to Eijaz Khan's Virendra Sehgal. Following Kavya - Ek Jazbaa, Ek Junoon (2023), which he says changed how people viewed him as an actor, Varma calls Ram his "most difficult" role yet. "Even though he's the hero of the show, I can't play it like a hero. Whenever I've gone slightly heroic, [my director tells me] ‘Don't walk like a hero. Don't act like a hero'. I don't know how to not do that. And that's exactly why I love the show. I absolutely detest heroism in television. Here, I'm introduced in a simple way. And as the show progresses, you realise that his heroism is not [over-the-top]. His simplicity is his heroism."

Mishkat Varma

While Varma shares more scenes with Khan, it is Manasi Salvi who has become his "favourite person on set". "Whenever I'm working with Eijaz sir, he will make sure I'm doing well. He hasn't told me that, but I just feel that he will make sure that we shine together. Manasi ma'am and I are similar to a large extent because she's simple. She's straightforward and brutally honest. And I love such people. She's the one I talk to the most on the set."

About working on TV

‘I want to do other work, but I will never leave a show if I'm getting a film or a web series. It's not ethically right. TV comes first for me. I can excuse television for following a pattern because the medium faces a lot of pressure every day. But when I see web shows and films doing the same thing again and again, that's unacceptable"