THE OTT GENERATION
OTT PLATFORMS HAVE SHOWCASED FRESH TALENT AND OFFERED NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO A LARGE CAST OF ACTORS WHO HAD BEEN WAITING IN THE WINGS
OTT platforms have offered opportunities to a large cast of new actors
PRATIK GANDHI HAS DONE GUJARATI THEATRE, blink-andmiss parts in Hindi TV shows, starred in hit Gujarati films including Bey Yaar and Wrong Side Raju and played the “hero ka friend” in Hindi films Loveyatri and Mitron. But the career-making role the Surat-born actor had sought since he moved to Mumbai in 2004 finally came with the streaming show Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, in which Gandhi plays the infamous stockbroker. Since its release, Gandhi has been ubiquitous in the Best of 2020 lists for his stellar performance which stays clear of caricaturising the protagonist, emphasising instead on Mehta’s astuteness, ambition and flaws. “None of us had thought that the show would be so big, that it would change lives like it has mine,” says Gandhi. The actor finds himself fielding congratulatory calls from seniors (Shabana Azmi and Boney Kapoor to name a few) and casting calls which, he noted, are now more reverential in their tone. “Initially, I wondered if I had changed” he says, laughing. “Now it’s like ‘Will you listen to the narration?’ If I tell them I am already on shoot, they will wait until I am free to read and decide.”
The 39-year-old is among a group of web series newcomers, including Aaditi Pohankar and Rinku Rajguru, whose fortunes changed in 2020 when the film industry faced one of the harshest blows dealt by the pandemic. The entertainment industry saw the pendulum swing towards OTT as audiences, wary of venturing out, turned to the internet for entertainment. In a year which also saw film actors, like Abhishek Bachchan (Breathe: Into the Shadows), Arshad Warsi (Asur) and Lara Dutta (Hundred), jump on the OTT bandwagon, it was still the underdogs who made the biggest impression. “The kind of penetration OTT has is mind-numbing,” says Divyenndu, perhaps one of the first few to experience stardom on the platform courtesy his dynamic turn as gangster Munna Tripathi in the Amazon Prime show Mirzapur 1 and 2. Fans of Munna Bhaiyya Telugu Fan Club have celebrated the character by pouring milk over cutouts of the actor while
“On OTT, you don’t need to have big names. If you make something that has merit, with a talented bunch of actors, people will like it” “It took time to understand that leading roles aren’t cast through auditions. I needed to be a part of a writer’s and director’s brain”
message boards are rife with crazy theories about Munna’s fate after the season two finale. Divyenndu had made his feature debut with Pyaar Ka Punchnama, but Mirzapur, he says, “gave us instant success. Its impact is more visible.” Apart from him, the show has also made his co-stars Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Rasika Dugal and Shweta Tripathi Sharma popular.
Aweb show, though, was not how Gandhi imagined recognition would come his way. “I had been trying to get something better in Hindi cinema, but I had no idea whom to meet or how to approach them,” says Gandhi. “It took time to understand that leading roles aren’t cast through auditions. I needed to be a part of a writer’s and director’s brain.” Untouched by the diktats of the box office, where the first week collections are pivotal to a film’s success, OTT platforms are also generally less concerned about securing a star as the lead. Instead, there’s emphasis on finding someone with thespian credentials who can front a show on his or her own for nine hours—the equivalent of three films. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra felt that Gandhi would fit the role perfectly; filmmaker Hansal Mehta, acquainted with Gandhi’s work in Gujarati cinema, too was on board with Chhabra's choice. The actor spent nine months preparing for the role, including putting on 18 kilos and learning how the financial market works. After Scam 1992’s success, Gandhi is more cautious about what he does next. For now, he intends to juggle roles in different languages (Hindi and Gujarati), as well as films and series.
Another actor who aims to do the same is Rinku Rajguru, best known for her remarkably assured debut in the Marathi blockbuster Sairat which won her a special mention at the National Awards. Since then, she has done two Marathi features. A Hindi debut was not on the cards until Ruchi Narain and Ashutosh Shah, co-creators of the Disney+ Hotstar comedy Hundred, reached out with a part written for her. The opportunity to play Netra, a terminally-ill young woman who decides to live the last 100 days of her life to the fullest, fulfilled Rajguru’s need to do projects where “ladies are given prominence”. “I don’t like films where the hero is the sole central figure,” says Rajguru, who also featured in the Amazon Prime anthology Unpaused in 2020.
Currently based in Akluj, Maharashtra, Rajguru has been working on her Hindi as she
"I like projects where ladies are given prominence...I don’t like films where the hero is the sole central figure"
pursues a B.A. “Many have said, ‘move to Mumbai or Pune’, but I feel I am still too young to handle things on my own,” says the 20-year-old. “I am not familiar with the industry’s ways and don’t know many people.” But such is her talent that regardless of her location and lack of contacts, work finds her anyway. “Many have my father’s number, some reach out through Nagraj Manjule (director of Sairat) and there’s my manager,” she says. For Rajguru, story and character take precedence over the medium. “I feel some stories can’t be told in theatres and web is a good alternative,” she adds.
The popularity of shows like Scam 1992, Aashram are proof that actors are no longer differentiating between film and OTT. Aaditi Pohankar concurs: after making her big screen debut alongside Riteish Deshmukh in the Marathi film Lai Bhaari, she waited patiently for a meaningful titular part, which came in 2020 with two streaming shows—Imtiaz Ali’s She and Prakash Jha’s Aashram—and there has been no escaping attention since. “Even if I have my mask on people identify me,” says Pohankar, recalling the time a group of boys at a Mumbai supermarket kept saying “Woh She waali hai” [that’s the actor from She]. Since the release of She in March 2020, Pohankar, just like Gandhi, is spoiled for choice. “I was telling my manager if Akshay Kumar can do four films a year then why can’t I [do multiple projects]?” she says. “Negotiating dates, though, has been a big problem and letting go [of projects] has been harder.” For now, Pohankar is putting Marathi projects on hold to focus on Hindi.
With OTT emerging as a platform to fame, the new crop of actors don’t have to settle for less in a film. Divyenndu, too, knows his relevance is no longer attached solely to a big release. “OTT has the advantage of reach,” he says. “No matter who you have or what the production cost, if you genuinely make a good show, you will make some noise.” He expects that OTT will bring about “drastic changes” in feature films, otherwise “they will become dated”. With theatres operating at full capacity, the competition between OTT platforms and theatrical for eyeballs will be less lopsided in 2021. Recognising this, OTT platforms are eager to lure subscribers by increasing their output—2020 alone saw 10 leading platforms release over 120 series between them. It has raised concerns over the quality of programming. Divyenndu, who is already shooting another web series, says that he does consider the platform before signing on, but doesn’t want to “get too swayed by” the labels. “You just need one good show for a platform to take off,” he says. ■
“I told my manager that if Akshay Kumar can do four films a year then why can’t I [do multiple projects]?”