The OTT medium has witnessed tremendous growth in a very short span of time. So much so, that the biggest of names from films have made their foray on the medium as well. We have had actors like Shahid Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Rajkummar Rao, Kajol, Raveena Tandon and Sushmita Sen, among others who have made their entry on the OTT medium. More recently, actors like Varun Dhawan and Ananya Panday are also set to debut on OTT with their upcoming web series.

Amid this, Abhishek Banerjee, who has starred in OTT shows like Paatal Lok and Mirzapur, feels that it took a lot for movie actors to recognise the worth of the medium. “When OTT started, the A-listers were not ready to come as they felt it was a smaller medium. Then they saw so many actors getting recognised through the medium, and suddenly they saw a value to that. It proved that if a story and character is good, it will work irrespective,” Banerjee shares.

Additionally, he insists that the association of a big star hampers the quality of an OTT project. “When you think you have a star, you want to negate a lot of other creative aspects and lazy writing takes place. So, people make creative sacrifices to serve to a star’s stature,” he says.

The actor continues, “We have plenty of shows with non-stars that have been viral hits, and also shows with big stars, which people don’t talk about. So, the audiences are sharing their preferences. Also, the language of OTT is different from film theatres. You need something larger-than-life on the big screen, but on OTT, the visuals don’t have to be so big. It’s the story and the sub-plots that make it exciting.”