Mumbai, September 12, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Actor Pankit Thakker has criticised Rohit Roy over his reported remarks describing television as a “dustbin medium” and questioning the style and class of actors working on the small screen.
Pankit, who has worked with Rohit in the past, recalled their association during a television pilot in 2000. “We shot a pilot for a TV show back in 2000. Anupam Kher was the producer, it was for the M.A.C. Channel. Raju Kher was the director,” he told IANS.
Calling Rohit’s comments disappointing, Pankit said there was an “unwritten rule” in the entertainment industry about respecting the medium that provided an actor with their first opportunities.
“There is an unwritten rule in our industry never spit into the plate that gave you your first meal,” he said.
Pankit argued that class was not defined by expensive clothes or polished English but by gratitude. “Television gave us our first identity. It put us in every home in this country. How can we forget that?” he said.
He also pointed to Rohit’s work in Swabhimaan, recalling that actors such as Manoj Bajpayee and Ashutosh Rana were associated with the show before establishing themselves in cinema. Pankit said neither had treated television as an inferior medium.
Citing the late Irrfan Khan, he noted that the actor had worked in television productions including Banegi Apni Baat, Chanakya and Chandrakanta before achieving international recognition through films such as Life of Pi and Jurassic World.
Pankit also highlighted the television beginnings of Shah Rukh Khan through Fauji and Circus, as well as Amitabh Bachchan’s association with Kaun Banega Crorepati. He said actors and crews working in television routinely put in long hours and deserve respect for their work.
Referring to Rohit’s elder brother Ronit Roy, Pankit said he had built a successful career through television before moving into films and had never insulted the medium.
“Real class uplifts people, it does not pull them down,” Pankit said.
He also questioned the criticism of television while actors increasingly appear in short-form vertical videos. “No medium is small. Big screen, TV screen, or 1-minute vertical video on a phone, acting is acting,” he said.
Pankit concluded that dismissing television also meant disregarding the millions of viewers who invite actors into their homes every day, adding that audiences decide what they want to watch and deserve respect.
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