Aftab Shivdasani: The whole star system is not applicable to web as there, it’s all about the content

Though he has just started out on the web, Aftab Shivdasani is already singing praises for the medium. Given the kind of content that web is churning out, the actor shares that there are ample opportunities and scope for creative minds.

“I think OTT gives you much more leeway and freedom to push boundaries, and motivates you to explore something new,” says Shivdasani, who made his web debut with the thriller Poison 2 .

He continues, “I’ve done romantic and comedy films and enjoyed doing them as well, but genres like action thrillers, characters having grey shades are things I haven’t explored much and something I always wanted to do. My second film Kasoor (2001) where I played a negative role got me critical acclaim but somehow filmmakers don’t see me in those stories and characters that OTT did. I hope this series will make them take notice that I’ve lot of work and potential yet to be tapped as an artiste.”

 

The actor also stresses on the fact that just like other mediums, choosing the right kind of content on OTT matters the most.

“I did got many offers but again, they were mostly around the romantic and comedy space, so I declined them. I didn’t want to stuff that I have already been doing. I felt they were sort of extension of what I was doing in films. So, I made it a point so chose my first project cautiously, as I didn’t want to repeat myself,” he says.

While the talks around the absence of a level playing field are on in Bollywood, Shivdasani feels that OTT provides equal opportunities to everyone, and that the star culture, in particular, doesn’t fit into this medium.

“The whole star system is not applicable to the web space. Here, there’s nothing like who’s a bigger or a smaller star, it’s all about the content you choose. For instance, if you look at Game of Thrones, besides Shaun Bean no one else was much known. When the show became big, the leading and supporting characters also became household names. So, be it a bigger or a smaller star, on OTT, it’s all about the narrative, the character you play in it and what impact you have as that character in the story,” concludes the actor.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

Author tweets @Shreya_MJ