Stree 2 star Abhishek Banerjee says ‘critical acclaim doesn’t fill the stomach’; claims producers ‘will give you work only if…’

Casting director-actor Abhishek Banerjee, who rose to fame in 2020 as Hathoda Tyagi in the Anushka Sharma-produced series Paatal Lok, did two big commercial films this year namely Stree 2 and Veda. Both the films tanked at the box office during their release. Abhishek’s role as Vicky’s friend, Jana, is one of the entertaining characters in the Stree franchise. He recently gushed over the audience’s love for him over the positive critic reviews, while expressing that critical acclaim is not satisfying. The Stree 2 actor believes that producers give work if the audience finds his roles entertaining.

In a new interview with DNA, Abhishek Banerjee was asked to choose between audience love and critical acclaim amid the success of Stree 2 in theatres. Abhishek spoke about being eager for audience love as well as continuing to act in films.

Abhishek explained that critical acclaim varies depending on the performance and reviewing his acting skills is a “personal opinion”. The Stree 2 actor said that no matter how “good” he is, a section of the audience has not been impressed with his acting before. However, as an actor, he is accepted by the audience.

Elaborating on his opinion, the Veda actor said that an actor’s career flourishes only when he is popular among the masses. He shared that critics give positive reviews, but there have been times when the audience did not pay heed to his work. The Bhediya actor feels that the audience he wants to connect with more does not exist at times.

The actor said, “Critical acclaim doesn’t fill the stomach. No matter how much critics praise you, producers will give you work only if the audience appreciates you.”

Emphasising on the love of the audience, Abhishek said that when the audience appreciates the acting skills of actors, it makes artists like him feel happy. In other words, it is a “different kind of happiness” for him.

Directed by Amar Kaushik, Stree 2 featured Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead roles. They reprised their roles from the original film Stree. Apart from Abhishek Banerjee, the sequel also featured Pankaj Tripathi and Aparshakti Khurana in supporting roles.