THE OTT GENERATION

OTT PLATFORMS HAVE SHOWCASED FRESH TALENT AND OFFERED NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO A LARGE CAST OF ACTORS WHO HAD BEEN WAITING IN THE WINGS

- Suhani Singh

PRATIK GANDHI HAS DONE GUJARATI THEATRE, blink-andmiss parts in Hindi TV shows, starred in hit Gujarati films including Bey Yaar and Wrong Side Raju and played the “hero ka friend” in Hindi films Loveyatri and Mitron. But the career-making role the Surat-born actor had sought since he moved to Mumbai in 2004 finally came with the streaming show Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, in which Gandhi plays the infamous stockbroker. Since its release, Gandhi has been ubiquitous in the Best of 2020 lists for his stellar performance which stays clear of caricaturising the protagonist, emphasising instead on Mehta’s astuteness, ambition and flaws. “None of us had thought that the show would be so big, that it would change lives like it has mine,” says Gandhi. The actor finds himself fielding congratulatory calls from seniors (Shabana Azmi and Boney Kapoor to name a few) and casting calls which, he noted, are now more reverential in their tone. “Initially, I wondered if I had changed” he says, laughing. “Now it’s like ‘Will you listen to the narration?’ If I tell them I am already on shoot, they will wait until I am free to read and decide.”

The 39-year-old is among a group of web series newcomers, including Aaditi Pohankar and Rinku Rajguru, whose fortunes changed in 2020 when the film industry faced one of the harshest blows dealt by the pandemic. The entertainment industry saw the pendulum swing towards OTT as audiences, wary of venturing out, turned to the internet for entertainment. In a year which also saw film actors, like Abhishek Bachchan (Breathe: Into the Shadows), Arshad Warsi (Asur) and Lara Dutta (