If there is something common between Rudra, Sacred Games, Aranyak, Aarya, and Breathe season one is the fact that they are amazing thriller feature which is loved by the viewers. This has also marked the OTT debut of leading actors like Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Raveena Tandon, Sushmita Sen and R Madhavan respectively. Shahid Kapoor will also be seen in web series helmed by ace directors Raj and DK, this year.
Director Rajesh Mapuskar, who helmed Rudra, avers, “It is because the audience finds it exciting, and the actors always go by that. The viewers like thrillers, violence. It is not about morally right or wrong, but thrillers are getting more eyeballs. Obviously that becomes your entry point into OTT. The actor is able to explore this genre in a long format, as on the big screen it is limited. Here, you can be real, and there is no song-dance to bring audiences to the theatres.”
Tandon, who minted rave reviews for Aaranyak, mentions that she is herself a fan of nerve-wrecking thrillers, “It keeps me glued to the screen so obviously I would want to also do work where one can hold the audiences attention. I love binge watching so like it when one can hold the audiences with good scripts and performances.”
Manoj Bajpayee who made his entry in the OTT through Family Man have excelled well. Casting director Shubham Gaur, says “They were popular even back in the 1990s, but more of comedy, romance would surface. The web medium started surfacing around 2015. Even then Rajkummar Rao did a web show like Bose: Dead or Alive. As casting directors, we look forward to casting in something slice of life, light hearted, it rarely happens, because thrillers are so popular,” he states.
Gaur continues further, “They always make sure the project is mounted on a big star with insane amount of money, what i safer than bit of action, and something which keeps people on the edge? We recently cast for Mukhbir- The Story of a Spy, and what we had read in the screenplay, makers had to cut around 20-25 minutes from each episode just to keep people hooked and get them to watch the entire show!”
Filmmaker Abhinay Deo, who is set to launch his next thriller Brown starring Karisma Kapoor believes that this genre doesn’t deserve the attention here. “I don’t think it has got anything to do with the genre but with what is working with the audience. A story spread across eight-ten episodes is very conducive for certain genres, it’s nothing to do with the actors preferring that, but what the audiences want to watch, which is why that genre is getting made the most,” he opines.
