Exclusive! Arshad Warsi on OTT content: A commercial actor doesn't fit into this space

A lot of actors who have been loved by the audience failed to make it big in the industry. However, with OTT platforms, it's proved that it's not the end of the world as several actors have revived their careers and made it big with their pure talent. In Modern Love: Mumbai, we have Arshad Warsi and Chitrangda Singh, who are going to be seen together for the first time. They are playing the lead roles in Nupur Asthana's Cutting Chai short film.

During an exclusive interaction with OTTplay, the actors and the director were asked if, with the boom of OTT platforms, they have become busier than ever. To which Chitrangda spoke about the quality of content being created on OTT platforms, "There is definitely a lot more work because of OTT platforms. Whether you're doing web series, short films, or regular films that have OTT release, there's definitely so much more work as actors. But quality is something, yeah, it's like a bit of a question mark. There's so much work, but you don't know how much of this is good. There's so much work going around at the moment. So it's a good thing for everyone."

While Nupur, who has directed Four More Shots Please! season two shared, "I think with OTT, there's just room for so many more stories that can be told. Earlier, there was only a certain kind of film that could make it to the theater, and it was very star-driven. Today, I mean, you know, you're in the mood for a thriller, you click on a thriller, you're in the mood for romance, you click on a romance, and therefore, there are just so many more stories being told. I think in long format, in OTT, you can get into more complex characters, more complicated storytelling, more depth, all of those things."

Arshad, who made his OTT debut with Asur stated that with the rise of OTT, many actors had gotten the opportunities that they never had with commercial cinema. He said, "What I love about OTT is that many good actors have interesting phases. It's so sad that earlier, they didn't have a platform and they wouldn't fit into a commercial cinema. Today, there is a new world that is just for you. Today, a commercial actor doesn't fit into this space. So this is a whole new format of movies that have come out exclusively for good actors. It is going to be tough to get a hard-core commercial actor to do one of these. Only talented people like me survive everywhere (laughs)."

While Chitrangda concluded by saying, "I mean, they're driving the content lately. It's going to be tough to get people into the theaters."

Modern Love: Mumbai will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on May 13, 2022.