Ratna Pathak Shah says she is worried about OTT: 'Once Bollywood enters the picture, everything will be standardised'

Ratna Pathak Shah has been a stalwart in Bollywood for almost four decades. The actress has been a part of prominent television shows during the course of her career, including Idhar Udhar and Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. Ratna recently opened up about the prominent role television played in her career, as well as her thoughts about the advent of OTT.

In conversation with Pinkvilla, Ratna spoke of how television had ‘saved’ her life and career, as well as given her a standing in her profession. The actress gave examples of her roles in popular shows such as Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, Filmi Chakkar and Idhar Udhar. She said that she considered herself lucky that she did not have to do ‘unpleasant’ work like soap operas during her limited television career. The actress revealed that the beginnings of cable television was an exciting time. The many kinds of programmes offered audiences something different from what they could see in films, and told different kinds of stories and featured an array of actors.

However, the actress believed that at present, television was completely ‘killed’ and left with no opportunity to tell different kinds of stories. Lamenting how television had so much possibility, Ratna spoke of how she felt that OTT was going through a similar phase, which worried her. At present, OTT had a lot of exciting and new things to offer to audiences, which Indians had not seen. Ratna also appreciated how the platforms offer audiences stories from across languages and cultures. “ Once Bollywood gets into the picture, everything will be standardised. That is so sad, but it seems inevitable”, she added.

Ratna was last seen in Ranveer Singh’s Jayeshbhai Jordaar. The actress is currently working on the upcoming film Dhak Dhak, which also stars Dia Mirza, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanjana Sanghi in leading roles.