Manraj Singh: The fight today isn't just with films or attention spans; it's a fight with reels

Manraj Singh, who plays Harshvardhan in Tumm Se Tumm Tak, sees Indian television caught in a battle it didn't choose. The enemy isn't other shows. It's the scroll.He said, "It's very difficult to maintain a balance between traditional storytelling and reel-driven consumption, because the audience has changed; even the older audience's attention span has changed.

It becomes very difficult to keep an audience glued to something that takes time to unfold. It's become more like fast-food consumption entering our lives."The pressure is reshaping how stories are told. He said, "Now we have micro-dramas coming in, and of course, the quality of work isn't as good when things move in that direction. But we have to strike a balance. Content has to be fast-paced, and at the same time, the traditional style of Indian television, the old way of taking shots, the old way of treating a scene, has to change."On his own show, the shift has been deliberate. He said, "In our show, we've tried to keep that shift subtle. Yusuf sir, as a director, has always tried to make things feel more real-time and more grounded in the space of shooting. But it's still difficult, because I think people are still attached to tradition."What concerns Manraj more is the emotional change in viewers. He said, "Today's viewers are more emotionally distant, rather than more selective.

Earlier, people were more involved in stories and more emotionally available. I think, especially after COVID, people have become less emotionally available to each other; their emotional depth, or EQ, has changed."That distance is showing up in what audiences choose. He said, "Audiences often gravitate toward stories that don't carry much emotional weight, content that's more stylized and driven by format rather than emotion.

I think emotional storytelling is losing ground."Social media connecting fans to characters cuts both ways. He said, "Connecting with a character is great, but constantly seeking validation from viewers about your character isn't always healthy. I think there has to be a certain mystery between the actor and the character they play.""The audience doesn't need to know everything about your process or what the character is thinking; the story needs to be watched, not explained beforehand through BTS content or previews," Manraj ended.