OTT has broadened the scope of actors to taste success with talent, say popular stars
Actors Pratik Gandhi, Rasika Dugal and Mithila Palkar engaged in a panel discussion on ‘How OTT is redefining entertainment, talent, and creativity’ during the Forbes India Tycoons of Tomorrow 2022. When asked about popularity during and post-pandemic, the three actors stated unanimously that OTT has broadened the scope of actors to taste success with sheer talent. Image: Forbes
From Scam 1992’s Pratik Gandhi to Little Things’ Mithila Palkar, the streaming stars said that over-the-top (OTT) platforms have brought a big change in the entertainment industry in consumption as well as talent discovery.
Popular OTT stars Rasika Dugal, Pratik Gandhi and Mithila Palkar said that OTT has broadened the scope of actors to taste success with talent.
“Scam 1992 gave me national and global recognition,” said Pratik Gandhi during a panel discussion at Forbes India Tycoons of Tomorrow 2022 event. He added that the virtual alternative to theatres gave birth to different forms of storytelling.
“OTT broke the standard formula because we as entertainers are in the business of experiments. Also, with OTT, the definition of a hero has changed,” he said.
Rasika Dugal, who tasted national success with the hit web series Mirzapur shared the experience of releasing her independent project Kissa on the big screen. “My indie film Kissa, a project very close to my heart, was released in only two theatres in Mumbai in 2013. I had to carry its DVD to every interview until Mirzapur happened. OTT also proved that the audience has always had versatile preferences.”
The actress added that good content was always around but distribution was a bottleneck. “The OTT has broken that. The success of content on OTT has showed that the audience was always versatile but we were not able to reach them.” However, she said that the quality of content suffers when the churn out has to be quick. “There is good and bad here (on streaming) also,” said Dugal.
YouTuber Mithila Palkar, from the popular web series Little Things, said, that while the web series’ finale season was released last year, the content has stuck on with the audience for the refreshing experience it brought to the fore.
She also pointed out that although OTT tried to compensate with entertainment during the lockdown, there are always films and projects meant solely for the big screen. “The ecosystem will level out now that the world has opened up,” added Palkar.
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