After Years of Toil, OTT Finally Gives Them Their Due

MUMBAI (IANS) – In the last few years, the Hindi film and content industry has become a more rewarding space for seasoned actors who were earlier seen in either small or blink-and-miss roles.

They’re now carving a niche for themselves courtesy the meatier roles that are being offered to them because of the ever growing space of OTT.

Web series give storytellers a chance to get into nuances of the narrative, explore and establish each character with their corresponding backstory. This gives an advantage to the actors in the supporting cast as they get to exhibit their acting prowess with the progression of the narrative thereby earning greater recognition within the masses.

Here are some seasoned actors who have broken the clutter with their performances in the OTT space:

Dibyendu Bhattacharya: It took almost two decades and a string of impactful yet unnoticed characters in middle-of-the-road films for Dibyendu before he emerged as a force to reckon with, in the space of OTT.

Having made his debut in 2001 with ‘Monsoon Wedding’, he went on to do several critically acclaimed films like ‘Black Friday’, ‘Maqbool’ and ‘Dev D’ until OTT gave him his due credit with content pieces like ‘Mirzapur‘, ‘Jamtara’, ‘Sacred Games’ and the Emmy-winning show ‘Delhi Crime’.

Sheeba Chaddha: The actress, who was recently seen in ‘Badhaai Do’, started her career with Mani Ratnam’s ‘Dil Se..’ and switched to TV in the mid 2000s. But, she kept doing films like ‘Delhi-6’ and ‘Parzania’. Web shows like ‘Bandish Bandits’, ‘Permanent Roommates’ and ‘Mirzapur’ have led to her meteoric rise.

Kumud Mishra: Kumud has become a bankable name owing to his acting chops in films and web shows, much of which were made in the past decade. An alumnus of the National School of Drama, Delhi, Mishra toiled to make a place for himself in the hearts of the audience.

His grit and determination is unparalleled to say the least. Some of his memorable performances are in films like ‘Raanjhanaa’, ‘Badlapur’, ‘M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’, ‘TVF Tripling’ and many more.

Rajesh Tailang: Like Kumud, Rajesh too is an NSD alumnus. He started his acting journey with India’s first daily soap ‘Shanti’. He got the part while he was still in Delhi. He then did ‘Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa’, which was supposed to be Jaya Bachchan’s comeback film. They shot the film in 1996, but it finally released in 1998. His recent works in films like ‘Pagglait’, ‘Mukkabaaz’, ‘Omerta’ and web shows like ‘Bandish Bandits’ and ‘Mirzapur’ have made him the audience’s favourite.

Ayesha Raza Mishra: Ayesha began her career working in the space of theatre. She has also been a part of the advertisement industry and television shows. She portrayed motherly roles in several films including ‘Madaari’, ‘Befikre’, ‘Toilet – Ek Prem Katha’, ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’ and ‘Dil Dhadakane Do’. Her breakout performance came with the 2015 web show ‘Bang Baja Baaraat’ produced by Y-film, the youth entertainment wing of YRF.

She went on to play Gunjan Saxena’s mother in ‘Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl’. The actress, who is also Kumud Mishra’s wife, was recently seen in ZEE5 series ‘Sutliyan’.

The era of digital has brought a revolution of sorts for artistes. Given the ease of access and sharing for content and amplification with memes and vines, actors and writers are getting their due credit. The Indian content industry is on an upward curve with content and performances sitting at the helm.