Amyra Dastur: Bollywood is no longer a superstar-driven industry

Amyra Dastur did shift gears with the changing times and started dabbling with the OTT medium way back in 2018 when her film, Rajma Chawal had a digital release.

And now, the actor says she has embraced the medium completely and wants to explore it even further, especially because of how it has widened the scope of opportunity for all.

“Now even the big stars are doing work on OTT. It’s a whole different range in cinema and Bollywood. It’s no longer a superstar-driven industry. I feel now the stars are the writers and directors. Every actor is like, ‘I want to work with this one, and not the other way round’. From actors being stars to now creators, and the show runners coming out to be the mega stars of the industry, today — that’s a big change,” she shares.

Dastur, who has been a part of web shows such as Trip 2, Tandav and the upcoming Dongri To Dubai, says even the concept of lead and ensemble is vanishing from the concept of cinema.

“Every characters gets talked about, the focus is on everyone, not just hero or heroine. Every actor gets an equal opportunity to shine. The characters are so beautiful. Pankaj Tripathi became what he did after his stint on Mirzapur. People are now dying to work with him. Look at Jaideep Ahlawat sir, he was not somebody who was that known a face,” explains the 27-year-old.

Acknowledging the contribution of OTT platforms in bringing about this change, the actor says, “I feel that OTT is propelling amazing actors and showing that now you can’t just be somebody’s daughter or son, you have to have some talent to hold a projects. Eight to nine of viewership is no joke. You need the right actors to hold the audiences for so long.”

While also questioning the relevance of the box office figures, Dastur says that the whole number game thing has gone away at least for now.

“However, box office will stay relevant in the long run because I’m a huge Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan fan like so many people. I’d also like to see their movies in theatres. Their movies have that theatrical value but that will take some time (to get back to normal),” she concludes.