Arjun Mathur: Not just me, many other actors have got a moment to shine now with the OTT boom

Actor Arjun Mathur feels the rise of web platforms helped many lesser-known artistes showcase their talent and gain fame

The pandemic era may have ushered in a lot of uncertainties, but it has also pushed talented artistes out of the fringes, and given them a moment to shine, feels actor Arjun Mathur.

At the moment, actor Arjun Mathur is shooting in Delhi for two OTT shows

“Not just me, but many actors, technicians, talent in the city of Mumbai, which was waiting in the wings to get this moment in time. And I think that moment has arrived,” Mathur shares.

There are many factors which can be credited for this change, the biggest being the new reality steered by the pandemic.

“There are combination of things -- the fact that the world is going through what it is going through right now, cinemas not being fully operational, ample content being consumed at home, and that we are competing on world stage now, not just with single screen content,” Mathur says, adding, “We all have to pull up our socks and do better work”.

Last year, the pandemic, and subsequent shutdown, made people look up to the OTT medium for entertainment. As the streaming space filled out a void, it also gave breakout success to many projects as well as actors.

This is proved by the success story of Jaideep Ahlawat, Divyenndu Sharma and many others, who found new popularity through the journey of their characters in their hit web shows.

According to the Made in Heaven star, this new wave in the digital space is quite liberating for storytellers as well. “They are able to tell a whole new story. They are not bound by box office pressure, and are able to cast actors that don’t necessarily have a box office pull. That is very liberating for filmmakers to be able to make brave choices in their storytelling in the casting,” says the actor, who was last seen in web film Silence: Can You Hear It, and is currently shooting in Delhi for two OTT shows.