Rohit Roy Calls TV a “Dustbin Medium” and Praises Film-Star Style
The actor’s blunt split between television and cinema has reopened an old hierarchy in Indian entertainment—then put his own television career right in the blast zone. His comments came during a Kindle Cast YouTube conversation reported on September 12, 2026.
Rohit Roy has called television a “dustbin medium” and said film actors carry more “style” and “class” in public. He made the remarks during a conversation on the Kindle Cast YouTube channel, reported by Bollywood Hungama and IWMbuzz on September 12, 2026. For film readers, the point is not that an actor has discovered television’s expiry date. It is that Roy, who became known through the 1990s Doordarshan series Swabhimaan, has described the film industry’s class divide in terms of posture, clothes and paparazzi manners—and then dismissed the medium that made him famous.
Rohit Roy draws the line between cinema and television
Roy was asked about the “caste system” in entertainment, where television actors can be treated as inferior to film actors. His answer focused on public appearances. Film stars, he said, arrive with a “graceful, dignified, stylish, cool” front. Television actors, he argued, do not show the same “carriage.”
Then came the cleanest insult: “Cinema is cinema. It is for posterity. Television is a dustbin medium.”
In a separate account, IWMbuzz reported that Roy described television as something viewers consume today and forget tomorrow, like yesterday’s newspaper. He also complained about the volume of Indian television content and the repetition of similar material, saying there is “hardly any creativity.” The reporting does not establish whether he was talking about every television production or the dominant commercial format. Roy did not draw that line.
That missing line matters. “Television” can mean a daily soap, a limited series, a news broadcast or a prestige drama. Roy’s statement sweeps them into one bin, which gives it punch and takes away its precision.
His argument is about behavior before it is about scripts
Roy returned to conduct several times. He said actors must maintain grace and dignity in front of paparazzi, and should not make “stupid comments” or create “hoo-haa” because cameras are present. He contrasted that with gatherings of television actors, telling viewers to look at how they behave and decide for themselves.
This is a strange standard for an argument about artistic value. Roy began with television’s content and longevity, then shifted to manners at a public appearance. A film actor’s “front,” he acknowledged, is still a front. The difference, in his telling, is that the performance looks polished.
That is less a theory of cinema than a dress code with a box-office vocabulary. The film actor gets “carriage.” The television actor gets a warning about volume control.
The clothes example turns the hierarchy personal
Roy also discussed clothing. He acknowledged that film stars wear revealing outfits, but said there is a particular style in how those clothes are presented. He mentioned an unnamed woman who, in his words, “hardly wears anything,” and questioned why people would treat her badly.
