Anupria Goenka: I could maintain connect with the audience because of OTT

The year 2020 has not been an ideal one for Bollywood with no theatrical releases but during this time the OTTs took centre stage and came to the rescue, something that Anupria Goenka is indebted to.

The year 2020 has not been an ideal one for Bollywood with no theatrical releases but during this time the OTTs took centre stage and came to the rescue, something that Anupria Goenka is indebted to. The actor, who had three web series that came out this year—Asur, Aashram and Criminal Justice 2, says it was rather nice that she was “working slightly at least and people got to see me.” This year too, Goenka, 33, has a bevy of OTT projects lines up for release and she is says she is ready to experiment more with her characters. Excerpts from the interview.

Anupria Goenka in a still from Criminal Justice 2.

Three of your web projects released last year, four if we count the two seasons of Aashram, Despite the pandemic situation, that was quite a silver lining for you

Thank god for that silver lining. I did a lot of work in 2019 and that kept me relevant in 2020 as well. It is always nice that you still feel that you are working slightly at least and people are getting to see you. There is some sort of connect that I could maintain because you feel that the audience is at least responding to my work. The year started well. Even when the lockdown started there was good new pouring in because of Asur. And somewhere mid, Aashram happened and that again was a huge success. I was busy with promotions and taking in all the appreciation. And then Aashram 2 also happened. Work has also restarted for me. Then the end of the year we had Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors. It is a series that did very well in the first outing. I am happy that it repeated the success.

As an actor who embraced the OTT when it was in a very nascent stage in India, how do you see the evolution of OTT?

“OTT has come into a new space altogether because of Covid. I started doing OTT work way back in 2017 and I never thought has second thoughts about it. I think it was a right decision on my part to take up OTT back then, especially looking at what it has become today. Now everyone wants to be a part of OTT and that is a great evolution for the medium in our country.

How do you see the OTT revolution propelling the careers of many actors, including yourself and change the landscape of entertainment in India.

OTT is now an important new space to consume content. I think it is great because it give so much liberty to everyone involved in art. Not just actors but also directors, writers , costume people, designers… everybody. People have been consuming content online more than ever before now and even films have transcended there. In the coming days, a lot of films will see getting originally released on OTT. Now there will be a mechanism and differentiation about what kind of films would be released theatrically and what kind of films would go to direct to OTTs for sure. As we saw many happen this year.

Many have applauded the OTTs for giving a much-needed liberty to every creative person, your thoughts

We are progressing at a very good pace in terms of the content and also what we are building upon. I feel very privileged to be a part of this era. I still want to do a lot more in terms of content as an actor. I want to so comedy, even dark characters or rural characters and period drama. We are seeing a change that happening both in the films space and the OTT space. So I think both film and OTT are exploding in terms of content, which is making it more meaningful. It is great time to be in the entertainment industry.

While last year was a tough one for all, how do you look back at it?

It has been a very different year , both good and difficult. Good because we did a lot of things which we would not have done otherwise. I think that kind of pause was required for us in life, to just take a break and reflect. I have been working on my voice a lot of things happened. There was a lot of reflection that took place. Understanding how important health is. I am thankful for the privilege and responsible to those who don’t have it. Those kind of understanding and gratitude is there. It was an important year that way.

And how does 2021 look for you?

We did some scares recently with the pandemic (laughs). Covid or no Covid, we have to move on with our lives. In 2021, a movie is slated to come out, Mere Desh Ki Dharti. I have to shoot Asur 2 and Aashram season 2, which will be somewhere around March. I also have another series. I hope to do different types of content. I want to do much much more challenging roles. I want to do roles which have a lot of meat in terms of a huge graph of different emotions and characterizations.

By Juhi Chakraborty