Exclusive! Satish Kaushik: Filmmakers have more responsibility on OTT than cinema

OTT has brought some of the most recognized faces under one roof. Similarly, Disney+Hotstar’s web series called Karm Yuddh has brought Bengal’s much loved Paoli Dam, Bollywood’s sweetheart Satish Kaushik and one of the most popular faces on OTT Pranay Pachauri under one roof. Director Ravi Adhikari, along with these amazing talents, speak to OTTplay about their show, the changing times and much more.

Excerpts…

Tell me about your role in brief.

Paoli: It was a fun experience shooting. It's an intense series which you would know when you watch it. It's not easy to get into the skin of this kind of character which has so many layerings. As an actor, you are always consciously doing certain things but some things are written in the script in a way that might not support your immediate conscience at that time but in certain situations, a character starts behaving a certain way.

This show explores the concept of family dynamics. It's a quest for power. Indrani herself, I find it a beautiful combination of the calmness, dedication and focus she has. I find her being fiercely ambitious interesting. Even her conflicts were challenging for me. I have played characters which are powerful and they are strong women but Indrani is very differently approached. This is a family feud based in Bengal and it's not something we haven't seen much. As a person, being ambitious is fine but loving the family and being with the family when it's required, that makes her very attractive. It is what intrigued me to play the character. All the characters actually are very powerful and charismatic in their own way. They have their own agenda and space to belong. It's a survival strategy that everybody takes. How they go about it and what they do with, that's what the entire series is all about. That's interesting. We all loved playing our part in Karm Yuddh.

Pranay: Like Paoli ma'am said. It's about three generations. It's a war within the family, with the world and karmon ka yuddh hai. Everyone is fighting for a place, their right, to find out who they are and the characters that develop over the time is amazing. Everybody's arc is so amazing. Paoli ma'am correctly said that it's a survival story. It's a fight of the fittest in a circumstance or concept like this.

My character is just someone who could be called Karan from Mahabharat. That's how I look at Samar.

Ravi (director), do you agree?

I better not comment on that. Let it be a question mark.

Would you say Karm Yuddh has flavours of Kolkata? Since it is set there...

It has flavours of humans. It's not just the geography or something. It's flavours of human nature, I would say.

Paoli, you are almost the key to the story. You have a graph with Satish ji as well as Pranay but we don't see them meet each other, at least yet. So tell me, what was it like working with the two?

They are two different generations. I have worked with Satish sir as a director previously, so I knew him since long. This is the first time I got an opportunity to work with him as a co-actor. It was lovely. It was great to share screen space with actors like him and Ashutosh Rana. It was lovely working with him.

With Pranay, we had a lot of fun during the shoot, despite the series being so intense. There's lot of things to learn from everyone. Where you've come from and what you've learnt so far, for an actor that process still continues while we are on sets for shoot. We get to learn a lot from each and everyone - be it on or off screen. Even the AD and technicians teach you something. So it was lovely working with all of them.

It looks like Karm Yuddh came to you after Kaali. Was that the case?

Kaali was my debut on OTT. Karm Yuddh came to me much later. I shot for Kaali in 2018 and we shot for this in 2019. We shot the pilot in 2019 and then we shot the entire show while battling COVID. Thanks to Ravi who offered me such a powerful character. It's such a strong female portrayal in the entire series. She's the only female force that way who's fighting the entire patriarchal system where she exists. She's a very strong contender as a successor to the Roy throne. She's a queen in the man's world and wants to remain like that. At the same time, she wants to erase the fine line between kings and queens and somehow wants to be the sole power when it comes to the Roy family. That's Indrani to me and it's also the brief I got for the character.

Satish sir, the one best thing about you is that you embrace change so well. When OTT was just booming, you helmed Kaagaz and it became so loved. Of course, you acted in so many series and even direct-to-OTT films. Did the change feel a natural process? How did you deal with it?

Yes, it was quite natural. A new platform, technology, stories and directors who were making a change were coming in. When I was offered Scam 1992 and it became such a huge success, slowly people started noticing that I had the capability to adapt and reinvent myself. I'm very happy directors thought that Calendar, Pappu Pager, Mutthu Swami and Sharafat Ali - all these characters that I did in mainstream films - I could still adapt myself into the current situation and reinvent myself and do such work. It happened very naturally. A film like Thar happened to me last year. I received the best supporting actor at OTTplay Awards too. This was quite natural and I adapted myself according to time and today's need. For the first time, I was offered roles like that. Before that, I was never offered such roles. During our times, there was a hero, villain, bhabhi, sister, father and grandfather. There was boxed casting and nobody would take a chance. Only Sudhir Mishra took a chance long back in Calcutta Mail where I played a negative role. Today's directors and casting directors want to tap into the potential of actors and everyone involved and that is what happened and so roles kept coming to me and I became a part of this change which I happily accepted and got busy with playing fantastic and internalised characters.

Cinema or OTT - which is the medium you lean towards both as an actor as well as a viewer currently?

For an actor, both the platforms are fantastic. Post COVID, people started staying at home but for an actor, the medium is same because OTT is also shot like feature film. Even Karm Yuddh was no less than a film shoot. Big locations, big cameramen taking the time to invest in a scene to get it right. So, today we're not closed in a box. Here (through OTT), you have a choice to get up anytime to do what you like. That's why with OTT, you have to make content which makes your viewer sit throughout.

Pranay, did it take some research for you to understand what this show wanted to convey?

There's no one particular person I have taken reference from. It's just when Ravi sir narrated the entire character, I understood how he thinks, why he is the way he is and why he's doing what he's doing. Just to have clarity about all of that and to understand about this guy who has such a explosive internal conflict going on appears to be calm on the surface, that was challenging. Your approach towards the reactions, how you're going to behave, dynamics with other characters in that world - all of that changes. He's someone who is very calculative and he takes calculated risks. Some of his moves are calculated. That's how he thrives and tries to survive in the world. That was majorly what I worked. It's human psychology and it was my research and work that went into playing Samar Shastri in flesh and bone.

When we talk about OTT, the best example is you. You literally have a career in the digital space. Tell me, do you miss big screen films or like this medium?

My last release was Shershaah on Amazon. There might have been a huge difference on a film and OTT set but the lines are blurring. It doesn't matter whether I'm working on a film or web series because there's a lot of great content being made on both the mediums. It's about the creative collaboration of everybody coming on sets and creating something. Eventually, we are storytellers - whether through web series, TV or films. We work as hard everywhere. For me, I just love being on sets whether it's a web series or film. It's a great time for everybody. In cinema, since you pay for a film, you sit and watch the whole movie. You still stay glued because you are sitting in a box. Here, on OTT, the makers have more responsibility since people roam freely and do some other work. Capturing their interests is tougher. Till your content isn't great on OTT, nobody will sit through it. Thus, OTT is a huge responsibility and challenge. Younger generation is taking up that responsibility and challenge and thus, we're getting roles and content which are making people sit at home and binge-watch shows. That's the good thing about OTT. It is a great time and I feel proud to be a part of it. It's been more than 40 years of me in cinema. I've been a part of 80s, 90s, 2000s cinema. I've done acting, directing, writing, TV and now OTT which is a great platform. It is seen all over the world and in so many languages. Karm Yuddh is about the Indian family, their dynamics and power-hungry people and how things change between them. It is available in Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil so imagine how vast an opportunity it is for the audiences. It is a great thing.

Will we get to see you in another directorial on OTT after Kaagaz?

Yes, definitely. I am on an acting streak right now. We are shooting for Kaagaz 2. Let's discuss what I'm doing sometime later. Good things are happening. It's keeping me very busy and tied up - acting, directing, writing and even producing.

Your upcoming projects?

Paoli: Watch Karm Yuddh.

Ravi: Hopefully season 2.

Are we expecting a season 2?

It all depends on the audience. If they like it, definitely we'll go ahead with season 2.