Actor Nitish Bharadwaj is all set to reprise his role of Sudarshan Chakrapani, in Marathi thriller web series “Samantar 2”. The first season of the series, co-starring Swwapnil Joshi, was received positively. The senior actor says OTT platforms should start investing in good regional content, too, and not offer big moolah only to Hindi films packed with star power.
The actor, who is best known for his portrayal of Lord Krishna in BR Chopra’s “Mahabharat”, has over the years been part of Bollywood and Marathi cinema, television, theatre and now OTT.
The seasoned actor accepts that lockdown has done well for OTT platforms and Hindi films that got stuck in the process and released digitally. He adds it is important encourage regional cinema on OTT platforms as well.
“I don’t know about Marathi cinema but most of the Hindi films that were ready have found a window on OTT platform and various platforms could establish themselves by grabbing eyeballs during the pandemic. As far as Marathi is concerned, OTT has been a good window for subjects like ‘Samantar’,” he says.
The actor adds: “I am not too sure about Marathi cinema, because it all depends on commerce. In a feature film, you know that if you have a good subject and a theatrical release, you can do a business of Rs 50 crore and Rs100 crore – even in Marathi. But I don’t know if OTT platforms would offer that kind of money to Marathi films. So, I don’t know if OTT is a boon for Marathi cinema, but for Marathi web series – yes, it is.”
Emphasising on investing in good Marathi films, Nitish feels that it will only help the digital platform raise the quality of content.
“I would rather say – looking at a very huge Hindi film that flopped at an OTT platform in recent times and looking at a Marathi web series like ‘Samantar’ that has become so huge on OTT – that OTT platforms should start looking at regional cinema as potential good quality content for their films as well. They should not offer a good amount of money only to big star cast Hindi films and acquire them for release. They should also start looking at regional cinema and offer them good money, so that your quality of content goes up on OTT and is not restricted only to web series. There can be original films on OTT in regional languages, too,” he says.
Nitish’s character in “Samantar 2” will be seen keeping close tabs of Kumar Mahajan (played by Swwapnil Joshi) as the latter tries to find out what his future is going to be like.
Commenting on what’s in store for the audience, Nitish says: “It’s an experience in season 2 for the audience to see that even if something is written in particular in your future, it need not happen the same way because different human beings will react in different ways. Is Kumar going to fall prey to that future? Is the same thing really going to happen?”
Before signing off, the actor comments on the genre of thriller doing well on OTT platform and decodes the reason behind it.
“OTT platforms are personal. So, everybody watching OTT is not watching it with 500 people in a theatre. People have always loved thrillers because everyone’s life eventually gets into some pattern. What does a thriller do? It breaks that pattern. It gives you an opportunity to go into someone else’s life and take you on a roller coaster. Thrillers are always loved, the treatment may be different. Especially when the story is like that of ‘Samantar’, which is so close to people’s lives, it is bound to become a hit,” he says, of the show that streams on MX Player.
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