Maniesh Paul has been in the entertainment industry for several years now, and in those years, he has hosted several television shows and award functions. On a recent episode of his podcast, the Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa host shared that many down-on-their-luck actors would urge him to highlight them or give them a shoutout at events. The JugJugg Jeeyo actor said that while he supported them at the time, the actors ignored him when they regained some level of success later.
Talking about how success changes people’s attitudes, Maniesh said, “Yeh maine dekha hai. Boht saare log ajeeb se ho jate hain. Main boht hosting karta hun as you know. Boht se actors, jinka unn dino kaam chal nahi raha tha, they would say ‘arre Maniesh mereko aisa announce kar dena, thoda aisa kar dena. Please mereko bula nahi rahe hain’. Toh main kehta tha ‘chinta mat kar, main audience mein tere paas aake, I’ll highlight you.’ You know maine yeh kia hai. And now jab unki films thodi chali hain, voh backstage aake milte hi nahi hain. (I have seen this. A lot of people get weird. As you know, I would host a lot of awards shows. A lot of actors, who were not doing very well at the time, would often ask me if I could announce them well. I would tell them that I’ll come in the audience and highlight them. And I did this. And now, when their films are doing well, they don’t even meet me backstage).”
Maniesh said that even when he has been with those actors backstage, they didn’t acknowledge his presence. “Backstage aake na (When we are backstage), they won’t look at me. And unki PR aayegi (Their PR will come) ‘How are you introducing him?’ Maine kaha (I tell them) I don’t need to tell you, I’ll talk to him. Aur main unke paas jata hun, kya ho gaya? (I ask them, what’s up?) They’ll be like ‘oh nothing’.” Maniesh concluded by saying, “Maine kaha yeh baatein mat karo yaar. Aaj time hai kal nahi hoga. (I said don’t do this. Luck is in your favour right now, but it won’t always be).”
