Parineeti Chopra: I used to think that a film coming out on OTT is a compromised release

This has been quite an eventful year for actor Parineeti Chopra as it started on a high with not one but three film releases. While Saina and Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar had a theatrical outing before the second wave of the pandemic hit,The Girl on the Train opted for a direct-to-OTT route.

In fact, Sandeep Aur Pinky Farar — which had a very short run theatrically before the cinemas shut again — got a new lease of life upon its release on the web recently.

That’s something Chopra is extremely pleased about. “I think just like any other actor, I also had the clichéd opinion that films should have a theatrical release, and a film coming out on OTT is a compromised release,” she admits, adding that she no longer has that notion.

“In the last one year, there has been such a shift as to how people are consuming content and how they are watching films. Now, the primary way of watching any kind of content is OTT,” she says.

Chopra, 32, feels that the web space gives a film as well as an actor a far wider reach compared to any other medium.

“So when we release the film on OTT, the volume of audience we get on the very first day, from all over the world, is hard to achieve anywhere else. I’m very happy about that and not thinking about OTT or theatre [debate],” says the actor, grateful for the fact that “all my three films are getting so much love”.

She also feels that people have started seeing her in a new light, yet again, and she’s getting the same appreciation from her audience what she used to get in her initial years in Bollywood.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for five years. The kind of love I’m receiving for these three films in 2021 is something I’ve not received for so many years. It feels like the old days again. I’ve had a hat-trick with crazy reviews and responses,” she gushes.

Looking back at her decade-long acting career with films such as Ishaqzaade (2012), Hasee Toh Phasee (2014), Kesari (2019), Chopra prefers to call it rather perfect.

“Some people struggle and get success very late in life. There are others who get success early on but then don’t find it again. For me, I love my journey because when I started, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be an actor. And that changed when audiences accepted and loved me right from my first film,” says the actor, acknowledging that she faced setbacks, too.

“I saw success for four years, and then I saw a dip when few of my films didn’t do well and in which I didn’t give my best. Failure came in at the right time for me, to teach me so that I could learn quickly. Today, I can start again and go on the positive side. For me, the trajectory has been very helpful because today I’m still young and learn from my failures,” she muses.

In fact, Chopra shares that her process of choosing films has also evolved over the years, but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed.

“If I’m the obvious casting for my film, I’ll not do it. It has become sort of a mantra for me. I feel if I take those films, it’d mean I’ve done the same thing before and people have seen me in that. If I get something that scares me as an actor, I will jump into it,” she concludes.