FILMMAKERS TAKE THE WEB ROUTE
The digital medium is clearly the new silver screen for mainstream directors
The digital space is booming, and how! With fresh and fearless content as its USP, the web has attracted not just TV and film actors, but there’s also an influx of mainstream filmmakers who are making series/films exclusively for online steaming platforms.
The recently released series, Sacred Games, has been directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane; the anthology film Lust Stories, too, had directors such as Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar and Dibakar Banerjee. The Test Case web series was directed by Nagesh Kukunoor.
Going forward, Kabir Khan is making a series on Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army, tentatively titled The Forgotten Army, Sujoy Ghosh is working on a web series called Suspect X, Imtiaz Ali on a crime thriller, and Shirish Kunder is also working on a web project.
London-based Natasha Mudhar, who has marketed India cinema to the global audiences, says, “There is a shift in the way people are watching movies and shows, specially supplemented by improvements in streaming infrastructure. The increasing popularity of digital media has provided for a paradigm shift in the global advertising spends and filmmakers are increasingly allocating their budget to digital mediums.”
DIRECT CONNECT
“The first screen of choice has moved from cinema to television, to phones now,” says filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, who has helmed a few web series. He feels that the web has made it easy to reach a global audience without any middleman. “From the maker to the consumer, there’s a straight line,” he adds.
Also, “some of the best writing is happening in this format,” says Kukunoor, who has just finished shooting for a 10-part series, City of Dreams.
UNINHIBITED STORYTELLING
Another plus point in favour of web series is that the narrative goes beyond feature films in terms of censorship, content and language. “While writing a feature, I’m restricted to 100 or 120 minutes, but on web, I can let my imagination go wild. Just like a novel, here I can do character explorations, and give them ample screen time,” adds Kukunoor.
Filmmaker Pooja Bhatt, who has developed a murder thriller called City of Death, loves how the web allows one to tell stories differently, and “pick themes that commercial cinema won’t allow” you to make. “I hope that filmmakers venturing into web don’t become frightened as regular distributors and creators, and they keep this space original.”
WORLDWIDE REACH
Their content reaching audiences far and wide is every filmmaker’s dream. The digital medium facilitates that. “Add subtitles in another language, and it’s like a worldwide release,” says producer Rahul Mittra. He elaborates that there’s no risk proposition involved. “A film is primarily dependent on the box office, as theatrical release is a very big component of the revenue. But in web, there’s no loss because the cost is being underwritten by the channel and the OTT platform and the fee component is also there. Also, if your next season of a series is approved, you start getting consistent money, thus making it a viable proposition.”