Supriya Pathak: Daily soaps ruined TV; I hope we don’t ruin OTT, as shows are getting repetitive

The senior actor addresses her concerns about digital shows that seem to be revolving around gangsters, violence and abuses.

Senior actor Supriya Pathak has been shooting non-stop. She has quite a few releases lined up in 2021 including Toofan, Mimi, Rashmi Rocket, Big Bull, Manohar Pandey, a web series and a Gujarati film. “Earlier, I couldn’t work a lot as my kids were growing up. Now, I am taking up work that is interesting. For me, the script and my role are important. I gauge if I can create a different a woman. But sometimes, you feel the character isn’t given enough space to perform,” she states.

Supriya Pathak enjoyed watching Bridgeton, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Grace and Frankie, Gilmore Girls and others.

Her last release Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi (2020) garnered a good response and she was delighted that not just the audiences but the film fraternity too liked her performance. “It was heart-warming to hear that and it felt good,” she says. Ask her if she has ever thought of directing a film and she says, “Sometimes, I do think about direction but I haven’t much about it. I don’t know if I want to put my foot in the other boat. I am happy acting for now.”

Of late, actors feel that due to OTT not just the lead actors but the characters actors, too, are getting prominence and so many talents are getting the chance to perform in the long format. Talking about the OTT boom, “Streaming platforms are great and I hope they use it well. When TV came, it was a great medium and then daily soaps came in and ruined the quality of the work we were doing. I found it regressive and I was upset about it. The medium got messed up. OTT has opened up and I hope we don’t do the same. I have seen shows from other countries and they have such variety. But from India, I often see repetitive content which scares me. Every other show is crime-based or twisted relationships and we are not steering away from them. For me, bad language doesn’t work for me, I am not that audience. Most trailers have foul language and have dark themes,” says Pathak, adding Scam 1992 and Panchayat, which were good shows.

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