“Had it not be for OTT projects, I’d be doing character roles in films or lead in TV shows”

“OTT has given work to actors like me,” says actor Shweta Basu Prasad, who has five projects coming up this year on various online platforms. “I have never been this busy in my life. This is common for every actor like me who are getting good roles. Web projects give respect to writers who then create characters that can shine, so content has become king and due to that actors like are getting really substantial roles. Had it not be for OTT projects, I’d be doing character roles in films or lead in a TV show. Before The Tashkent Files (2019), I didn’t get good enough roles but now I am.” She has been enjoying doing projects on OTT including short films and web shows.

Prasad was noticed as a child actor in Makdee (2002) and Iqbal (2005) and recently was seen in Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), and the TV show Chandra Nandini (2016-2017). Having being exposed to world cinema since childhood, she is glad that finally audiences are able to enjoy good content from around the world. “I am also enjoying watching actors like Neena Gupta, Pankaj Kapur, Kumud Mishra, Sanjay Mishra playing lead roles in OTT shows. It is a great time to be an actor as everyone is experimenting. (Actor) Vijay Verma said, that now actors are not feeling insecure that their prime is getting wasted. That time nikal raha hai as everyone is getting good work. People of all ages and all kinds of images are getting work, provided you are a good actor. In fact, in the pandemic taught us that we need art- books, music and cinema- to survive and this is the time,” she says.

 

Prasad is excited about being a part of the web show Hostage 2 that stars Ronit Roy and Dino Morea among others. She says she loved the first season as an audience and was thrilled to be a part of the second. “Sachin sir (Krishnan; director) had seen my film Tashkent Files and I had worked with Sudhir Mishra sir (director) on a film he made for Netflix, Serious Men. Both the directors auditioned me and that’s how I got the part. I play Shikha, an investigative intelligence bureau officer and trying to make her place in a man’s world. People in the department don’t take her seriously and what bothers the men around her is that she is diligent and hard working. She shakes things up in the show constantly,” says the actor.