Web Team

As Online streaming giants prepare to overhaul Indian television, Actors Sayani Gupta and Sarah-Jane dias, who star in amazon prime india’s slick new drama, tell Vatsala Chhibber what this means for their craft

- Vatsala Chhibber

Television’s untenable scripts, punishing schedules and demand for high-pitched histrionics can make any discerning actor balk. In its present form, it holds neither the grandeur of cinema, nor the reverence of stage. But as the Internet rewires everything from delivery times to dating mores, on-demand streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime promise to invigorate the medium. And thanks to their offer of technical superiority and enticing subscription figures, the discerning actor is inching closer.

Sayani Gupta and Sarah-Jane Dias are two such digital newbies who continue to hold steady film careers. Gupta, an indie sweetheart, finds equal favour with mainstream blockbusters [Jagga Jasoos (2017), Baar Baar Dekho (2016)], while Dias is growing a diverse filmography with Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House (2017), Zubaan (2016) and Angry Indian Goddesses (2016). The two actors join a sizable ensemble in Inside Edge, Amazon Prime India’s first original series, which launched this July with a Bollywood dominated credit list— starring Vivek Oberoi and Richa Chadha, produced by Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment and directed by Karan Anshuman (Bangistan).