In the big screen vs OTT debate, Gulshan Devaiah isn’t taking sides. While he believes OTT offers more opportunities, there’s no substitute for the cinematic experience, he adds. In a freewheeling chat, the Dahaad actor talks about everything from the business of cinema to having civil discussions on social media. Excerpts:

I love cinema and it will make me very sad if the cinematic experience is lost and is not valued anymore. I am happy that I am doing interesting work and the web series format is very liberating for storytellers – the business model is also different as you don’t have the same pressure and it is more liberating to tell long-format stories – which means more interesting work, more money, opportunities. But if this is going to be at the cost of cinema, that will make me very sad.

I have a wider reach on OTT, I have better opportunities. But sometimes achieving difficult things can be extremely satisfying. If I am able to have a blockbuster when nobody expects it, what do you think is going to happen to my career? What do you think would have happened if Hunterrr would have made Rs. 100 crores? I know it’s a slim chance but there is nothing wrong in trying. I’m not losing anything. I have a career anyway.

Many people do not realise that Andaz Apna Apna did not make any money and they don’t care, it is a film that is fondly remembered. Dil Chahta Hai was not really a financially successful film, but people have strong memories attached to that film, its music. Agneepath was a massive flop, but nobody remembers it as a flop because people don’t care. They loved these films. We have lost that feeling – ‘ mazaa aaya yaar yeh dekh ke’. We have lost that touch with cinema, which is becoming more about numbers.

If I have genuine interest in the story and in the part, then I will do the film. Like in Badhaai Do, it was a six-minute part, it was nine pages worth of scenes for me. The director, Harshavardhan Kulkarni, is a friend, I am his supporter, and the role made complete sense to me when I read it. It was a small part but it was well written, it impacted the story, and I got to romance Rajkummar Rao. It is always the role and the story that matters most when I am selecting a film.

I have primarily done mid and small-budget cinema, like CandyFlip and 8 A.M. Metro. Barring Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, most of my films were mid-budget. Small and mid-budget films are the ones that can take risks in terms of storytelling, they can try something new. I have been a part of many small-budget films because those scripts were interesting to me. They were more interesting than big-budget films or the roles that were being offered to me.

Small and mid-budget films face bigger challenges right now in terms of business. The theatrical business model is cut-throat. Some kind of reform is needed there. With very little guarantee of return on investment, it is a gamble. Sometimes you have a good film or product, but if you don’t market it well, it doesn’t work. And if you don’t get good show timings, people may like it but won’t be able to watch it. It is very pressurizing. It’s much more difficult now that everybody has started discussing figures. Even cinemagoers who really don’t understand anything about business, they are talking about opening kitne ki lagi thi, and then they decide whether that film is good or bad. Whether they want to watch a film or not is based on whether other people are watching it. That was never the case before.

There are people like Rajkummar, Manoj ji, whom I respect and I have learnt a lot from them. They give me and everybody else hope. They are not proper movie stars, I could say they are stars – people love their characters. Even when they (the audience) talk to me, they refer to Mandar Ponkshe (from Hunterrr) or Devi Lal (from Dahaad) – all characters, right? On the other hand, I have seen grown men at an airport react to Rajinikanth – it’s like they have seen God. They fall, they start to shake and shiver. They love him and not his characters. People love Shah Rukh Khan and not his characters. They love Salman and not his characters. You can not compete with that, no matter how brilliant your performances are.

In 2020, when I tweeted that “Bollywood is not a family, it never was and never will be”, the point I was trying to make is that it’s a place of work. I think some people misinterpreted that as yahan pe koi dost nahi hai. I think it helps if you change your perspective. If you don’t have expectations of it being your family, then you are able to navigate your way around it in a much better way – you don’t expect people to be your friend or family because it is a place of work. You can have wonderful colleagues with whom you get along and develop friendships and deep bonds, but that’s not the expectation that most people have when they go to work. This whole romanticization of one big family – if we don’t do that, it will probably help us have a perspective that is a bit better for our mental health.

Arts is usually filled with subjective opinions, and the sooner you accept that it is subjective I think the better you will be able to deal with failures and disappointments. Back then (in 2020), I also saw that our angst is being harnessed by others for their personal benefit. I had an issue with it, I was like my angst is my angst, you are not benefitting from it!

I got a call that a popular news anchor wants you on the show, I was like I don’t want to be on television. I am what they called an outsider, who has an okay career, who has done alright for himself but is not a massive star. So they thought maybe I would have some grudge, maybe I do, but then I will deal with it.

I refused to believe that social media is a place where you cannot have a civil conversation. I’m very fortunate that most people engage with me constructively. I get trolled sometimes, but it’s okay. I have a thick skin for such things. Not all of us will take our freedom of speech responsibly. Some of us will be irresponsible with it. I don’t want to say anything on social media that I wouldn’t say in real life. And I would not say anything to you all that I wouldn’t put on social media.