Due to the pandemic-led restrictions, work has been sporadic in the past one year in the entertainment industry, and things majorly have taken the digital route. Actor Aahana Kumra sees this as a good sign, as it allows a lot of preservation of work.
“One thing that we’ve realised [in this pandemic] is that anything can happen in our lives, and the whole digital revolution has made things better. It has its own benefits. It’s helping us archive our work, otherwise no one will remember what we’ve done. How will the future generations know what we did?” says the actor, adding there are times she wants to watch an old show, “but it’s not available anywhere”.
Kumra, 36, is among those few actors who’ve consistently dabbled with the OTT and big screen, much before the pandemic hit.
Lauding the OTT boom and sharing her love for the web space, the Khuda Haafiz (2020) actor, “I don’t think people are looking at performances now. The kind of actors that have come to prominence in the past two years on OTT, is amazing. I see a lot of change now. People are recognising talent and not just popularity.”
Though the actor notes there’s still a long way to go, she’s quick to acknowledge that pandemic has put things in motion.
“We’re still figuring our identity and our voices, but Covid has given us a massive clarity. Clarity to the audience as well, who used to go to multiplexes to watch popular cinema. But when those popular cinemas released on OTT platforms, it didn’t perform well. Smaller films with performance-oriented roles have been lauded. The audience has spoken quite vocally, I feel,” says Kumra, who has also done digital plays such as Sar Sar Sarla.
Like last year, many films have been picked up by OTT players for a web release, but when cinemas eventually reopen this year, Kumra feels that there would still be some films that would prefer a showcase on the big screen.
“I’d also like to see a film like Sooryavanshi in the cinemas. I’d like to see how it fares at the box office. I can’t watch such a film in my house, it’ll ruin the experience totally,” opines the actor, who would next be seen in Madhur Bhandarkar’s India Lockdown.