Neena Gupta: Instead of my film being stuck in a can, I would be happy to see it release online

The senior actor had two OTT releases in 2020 – Panchayat & Masaba Masaba and currently is basking in the reactions for her film The Last Color that released on OTT last month.

With two web shows, Panchayat and Masaba Masaba, Neena Gupta’s acclaimed film, The Last Color, too, got a theatrical release last year, after being to numerous film festivals around the world. The senior actor is delighted with the response her movie has received, “especially now that it is available on OTT because it feels like it has released all over again. Word-of-mouth for the film has been fabulous. The kind of comments I have got says that people have loved the film and my performance. I think it is important as this is not a potboiler or has popular faces, so such reactions feels good.

Neena Gupta says, “It’s a good thing that movies are releasing on OTT as many of them don’t find theatrical releases.”

She is glad that people all over the world are enjoying a variety of content on OTT, which has opened so many doors for creators, actors and technicians. “OTT ka good luck ho gaya Covid ki wajah se. Kitne logon ne kitna kuch dekha OTT platforms par. Moreover, a number of producers were suffering due to monetary loss as there were no theatrical releases. They must have borrowed money and would have to pay interest. Releasing a film on OTT was a good way out for many of them. Instead of my film being stuck in a can, I would be happy to see it release online,” says Gupta.

She admits workwise, 2020 was fabulous, as she shot a lot, including many ads. “I wrote a book on my life and hope people enjoy it as well. As people were at home, they could enjoy and explore different genres of content and not just the same kinds of stories. OTT has helped a lot in that sense. Agar OTT, nahin hota toh, whatever I worked on wouldn’t have existed perhaps,” says the actor, who has four films lined up for release this year including Gwalior with Sanjay Mishra, Dial 100 with Manoj Bajpayee and one with Kalki Koechin. .