Saif Ali Khan is one of the first mainstream actors, who made the bold move to dabble into the world of OTT back in 2018 with Sacred Games. He also went on to star in another web series, Tandav, and his film Bhoot Police saw a direct-to-OTT release recently.

“Traditionally, the small screen has been less glamorous than the big screen but these guys (OTT players and makers) spent money to make the small screen bigger than what’s happening on the big screen. It is an incredibly revolutionary thought,” points out Khan. “It [Sacred Games] was nominated at the International Emmys! When does that happen for me? Never!” he chuckles.

Back then, the concept of OTT platforms was still in a nascent stage in the country. Talking about what pushed him to take the plunge, the 51-year-old reveals, “I think, it was the first time for me to get something first in life.”

He explains, “It is not really my thing to try and be a pioneer in any way. But in a way it [decision to embrace OTT] proved lucky. It is fairly logical [to assume] that if a big OTT was to come to India and there’s a production house that likes to experiment, then one of the names that would come up [in terms of casting] would be mine, because I have been on the edge of looking for something like that [before anyone else].”

The actor says that he is happy to see that everyone is now interested in the web medium. “I see (actor) Ajay Devgn also doing something on the web and I feel so good [to know about it]. I think we should all be doing web shows.”

And ask the Jawaani Jaaneman (2020) actor his thoughts on the OTT vs theatre debate, he shares that the debate is redundant given that there is no competition between the two. “They are entirely different things. We are very lucky as audiences as well as actors that there is a platform like the OTT. For an economy to thrive, you need different competitive ideas. I don’t think OTT and cinema are competitive, necessarily. They can work well together,” ends Khan.