Pankaj Tripathi on the positive change brought by OTT: Here, stories are important, not budget and opening

Pankaj Tripathi has established himself as a formidable figure in the world of OTT, with his compelling performances in a host of popular web shows such as Mirzapur and Criminal Justice. The actor recently opened up about the positive changes OTT has brought forth in the film industry.

In conversation with Hindustan Times, the actor said that OTT gave stories their due importance. “Here, stories are important. Budget and opening are not important. Here, people look at content, performance, direction, cinematography”, he said.

Despite the positives, the actor is cautious when it comes to the future of the medium. Tripathi spoke of how earlier, there was no concept of ‘opening day numbers’ in OTT. However, these days he remarked that some digital organisations kept track of numbers on OTT content as well, such as tracking most viewed shows etc. The actor wondered whether the medium will also start to follow the concept of ‘opening day numbers’ soon too. In that way, the OTT space was becoming similar to cinema as well.

The actor will next be seen in Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach, the third instalment in the legal drama. The actor is also working on the upcoming season of Mirzapur as well. Tripathi said that playing these familiar characters over the course of a few years brought about a certain sense of ‘carelessness’ in him. Despite being prepared, he would start to think that it ‘was not a big deal’ and became complacent at times. Traipathi said that he was blown away seeing the commitment and level of preparation of his co-actors. He felt that the coming generations of actors will perform even better than their predecessors and would be able to take cinema to newer heights in the future.

Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach will start streaming on Disney+Hotstar from August 26.