Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 29, 2017)

The growing popularity of digital content is an undisputed global phenomenon. Closer home, the freedom to explore new content with little censorship seems to have encouraged production houses to take cognisance of the strength of the web.

In the last few months, Netflix signed Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte for Sacred Games and Amazon Prime featured Vivek Oberoi and Richa Chadha in Inside Edge. Now, filmmaker Zoya Akhtar is set to explore the digital space by directing a web series, Mirzapur, about gang wars. It will be co-produced by her brother Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani's Excel Entertainment.

Set in Uttar Pradesh, the show stars Ali Fazal and Shweta Tripathi. "I play a character that is opposite to my screen image," says Fazal. Tripathi adds, "As an artiste, I don't want to limit myself to any genre or language. I want to surprise the audience, and hence, keep raising the bar for myself." There is talk that Farhan might do a cameo.