Karan Tacker on star system taking over OTT: The obsession with film actors needs to dial down
Karan Tacker talks about star system making its way on OTT and how it impacts the show's quality and other projects and actors on the medium
Ever since Karan Tacker made a switch to the OTT medium, he has been quite meticulous about his choices, having done shows like Special Ops and Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. Currently, he is shooting for his new web show, and he calls it his most creatively satisfying project till date. “This is the most joyful collaboration of my life. Till now, in 15 years, if I've ever felt the most collaborative and the most liberated as an artiste, it has been on this project,” he says.
Karan Tacker insists that OTT gave him and other actors like him an equalising space. However, in recent years, a lot of film actors have been making their way into the web space. Does he feel somewhere that equality suffers because of it as compromises are made to suit a star’s stature? “It's an open platform, everyone can work here, and everyone should work here. I feel that doesn't bother me at all,” he responds, however adding that there is one thing that troubles him in the situation.
“If you have an actor or an actress from films who does not have a great box office record or might not be the best artist or the best fit also for the job, but just because of the tag of a film actor gives them that opportunity, that is not right. That obsession needs to dial down a little bit,” Karan asserts, adding, “I don't feel like that's only by the makers or platforms, I think that even trickles down to the media in general. The minute as an industry you start giving credibility to everybody, that's the only time everyone will have an equal opportunity.”
The actor insists that because of the obsession with film actors, platforms are overpaying even those artistes who don’t have results to their credit at the box office. “The platform is like if I wanna pay an actor 1 crore for a project, but because this person is coming from films, I'm going to pay them 22 crores to do a show which is not even being watched by anybody and probably sanction a second season. I feel that is unfair because what that does eventually is that it breaks the backbone of the platform in general,“ he says.
Karan also shares how it affects other shows and actors: “No one has consumed season 1, but you sanction a season 2, so you have to go back to the drawing board and downsize all the other projects that you've lined up with other actors who might not be from films. Then you pay them less, give the producer lesser money to make, maybe a creatively heightened show. That business model is where the problem is. As an actor, I have no problem if a film actor comes on OTT. But if they are not able to run a film, how will they be able to run a show here? It’s creatively unfair to the craft, and then you are stealing an opportunity from somebody else. That is what bothers me.”
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