Web of stars

With the movement of the average Indian entertainment seeker from the television set in the living room to the laptop on the desk, and finally to the smartphone in the pocket, it was only a matter of time before the average Indian entertainment provider considered a similar movement too. It is now old hat that web series traversing several genres have been carving quite a following in desi homes, but some of the most recent entrants into the fledgling Internet entertainment arena might just be what it takes to make the margins the new mainstream, in more ways than one. From Yash Raj’s Y-Films and Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment to B-town biggies like Kalki Koechlin, Richa Chaddha and now even the legendary Zeenat Aman, a galaxy of stars from television and films alike have been descending on YouTube along with a bevy of screenwriters and directors.

“The sheer reach of the web is no longer small anymore and its growth is outstripping any other medium that exists on account of better broadband connections, cheaper phones, and most importantly, better content,” avers Ashish Patil, Head of Y-Films. He adds, “The medium allows and mandates content that you don’t get or can’t get anywhere else — so there’s a chance to experiment in form, treatment, characters, storytelling — which is bound to excite not just creators and consumers but also the celebrities who get to feature in it.”

Television actor Rithvik Dhanjani, who recently featured in Arre I Don’t Watch TV, a quirky web series that looks at the crazy lives of Indian television actors, agrees and says, “The greatest plus point of the medium is creativity. You can be mad, because there are no boundaries and total freedom to do whatever you want — to say whatever you want. This is why I think web series have a lot of potential to go really far because they’re a great creative outlet that people like me and everyone else who did AIDWT don’t get otherwise.”

Patil adds that from the actors’ point of view, since the medium is as eclectic as it is in terms of content, it has become a great way to reinvent themselves. “It’s a chance to showcase a new side to your personality that you may not have had a chance to showcase before. Look at Nimrat Kaur, for example. We’ve typically seen her as a mom/ housewife — but when she did Love Shots for us, people saw her as a young, cool girl for the first time. Similarly, Tahir Raj Bhasin whom people remember as the negative lead in Mardaani, made for such a wonderful romantic lead in Love Shots,” he points out.

Bhasin himself, on his part, finds that web series are a great space to improvise as an actor. He shares, “I had such a blast while shooting. I’ve always felt that short films are fun experiments along with being a great way to improvise and play with your craft as an actor.”

Television actor Sanjeeda Sheikh, who is a part of Sex Chat with Pappu and Papa, feels that along with being a fruitful creative outlet, web series are also a great way to broach subjects that are ordinarily shunned from entertainment as taboos. Speaking with reference to a recent episode of Sex Chat with Pappu and Papa that tackled the myths around menstruation she says, “It’s been one of the most fun and progressive parts that I’ve had a chance to play in my career. We’re hoping this series really helps everyone — not just girls — understand and be a lot more open about these conversations, and this is something the Internet makes possible in a way that television and even movies do not.”

The creative and informative aspects aside, Patil stresses that there are commercial advantages to the trend as well. He explains, “Being a part of things like this can translate into some incremental money for actors — some of the bigger names clock in a sizeable amount of money for leveraging their social media for brands. And brands are going in for short films on the Web too these days, on account of the kind of response the medium has been getting in India — Ranveer Singh and Rohit Shetty’s My Name is Ranveer Ching, for example.” He sums it up by adding that even from a non-monetary point of view, web series are a smart platform for maintaining visibility. “Given how young our country is — the number of Indians between 15 to 35 are more than the entire population of the US and Japan put together — you need to be present in people’s consciousness to stay relevant and connected to your core audience. This is why we’ve seen collaborations with everyone including the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Sonu Nigam, Asha Bhosle, Parineeti Chopra, Ayushmann Khurrana on some of the things we’ve put out on Y-Films. It can be a trigger to tap into a fresh fan base that resides on the Internet while also staying on the radar between feature film releases,” he concludes.