It’s been five years since Nawazuddin Siddiqui made his digital debut with Sacred Games. The OTT space has evolved considerably since. In conversation with us, the actor points out the pros and the cons of this change. He shares, “Things have evolved, yes. Shuruwat jo hai woh bahut honesty ke saath hoti hai, and later it just becomes a commodity… uska ek dhanda ban jata hai. And this happens in every industry, not just showbiz.”

Talking about how the change in the outlook towards the medium affects the content that’s created for it, he says, “It leads to downgrading of the quality of all the departments because it becomes a race…bas jald se jald banado aur logon ko dikha do. Likewise, when you are starting off there’s an honesty, but later, that fades away too.”

Having said that, he shares that there are a few shows that definitely caught his attention. “I have seen Panchayat and Scam 1992. And I saw it not because of its marketing or PR buzz, but because common people were talking about it and that generated my interest,” he says.

Ask the actor if OTT, like Bollywood, has become star-driven too, and he says, “Ab ho gaya hai waise, pehle nahi tha. I feel that doesn’t matter to the OTT audience though; what matters to them is the content. Over a period of time stars ne bhi behti Ganga mein apne haath dhone ki koshish karli. But as far as I know, the original OTT audience was very different.”

Nawaz, who has been a part of OTT films like Serious Men, Haddi and Tiku Weds Sheru, feels that there’s a certain kind of fatigue when it comes to consuming OTT content now. “I do feel the audience is now tired. There are many actors who come and tell me that they have done so and so web show, but I haven’t even heard the names. Due to this abundance, humein pata hi nahi chal raha ki kitne series ban rahe hai aur release ho rahe hai.”

So, is it time makers introspect? “No, no... why should they do that? See, directors and actors are waiting for opportunities. The medium has plenty of work for all. We wait ki koi hamare paas kuch interesting project leke aaye, but there’s this rush ki we need to finish the shoot as fast as we can and drop the show online. I like what my friend actor-writer Hussain Dalal once told me ki OTT is TV plus, which means TV se thoda behetar.”