Gurdip Punjj: OTT platforms now a huge challenge for TV

Actor Gurdip Punjj says OTT platforms are becoming a huge challenge for television, and feels it is time to reinvent

“Television audiences are slowly moving to OTT platforms,” says actor Gurdip Punjj, who feels that there’s a need to introspect and act accordingly to stay in sync with the changing times.

Actor Gurdip Punjj feels OTT platforms are turning out to be big challenge for TV

Ask her the probable reason behind this shift from one medium to another, and she says, “That’s because they (actors) are getting real emotions, real life stories and progressive stories on OTT platforms. On television, we are showing the same stuff.”

2020 was a tough year for the entertainment industry on a whole as all the shoots came to a standstill, and reruns of shows coming in to fill the void. That made the audience go looking for fresh content, and that’s when a lot of them explored the streaming space.

Punjj, who became a household name with her debut show Sanjivani i 2002, agrees and says, “Jinko nahi bhi aata tha use karna, unhone sikh liya hai, unke pass itna time tha lockdown mein. So, this is going to be a big challenge for TV now.”

Now, the actor feels there’s a need to do something “different”, and make shows on the lines of web series, while staying rooted to reality.

“We’ve to cater to the same audience that are now enjoying watching content on OTT platforms. This is a change we have to adopt. Working on OTT is great because you have the luxury of knowing the whole graph of your character, from start to finish,” says the actor, ruing is absence from the television landscape.

The 41-year-old, who’s back on the small screen with a TV show which aims to redefine notions of womanhood, opines that there’s a lot that television can imbibe from OTT platforms. And Punjj is glad to see this change seeping in gradually, as she notes that people are now careful of how they want to pitch the show.

“We can see that some shows don’t even last for three or four months. That’s because there’s no planning. They come, look for numbers, and when they don’t get them, they go for formulas, and then shut shop,” she points.

While Punjj understands that the economics of both the mediums is very different, he wonders, “Why can’t people working for television give it some more time and planning? That will change a lot of things.”