Pankaj Tripathi, Jitendra Kumar, Kirti Kulhari... : Meet the new stars in post-pandemic world

These are unusual times. With theatre doors shut all across the country, personal entertainment on computers and mobile phones is the only available option. Hardly surprising, then, is why OTT platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have become more dynamic than earlier.

Many new shows completed just before the Covid-19 pandemic brought shooting to a halt are getting released from time to time. Created with offbeat ideas, the good ones among them have allowed talented actors to display their acting chops in exciting roles

Among them is Pankaj Tripathi, who had chewed the scenery as the manipulative godman Guruji in Sacred Games, a greedy lawyer in Criminal Justice and a crime lord in Mirzapur. Most recently, he sparkled as the supportive father of the protagonist in the Netflix film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl.

Hear Tripathi, a household name today who is waiting for the release of Mirzapur’s second season, “The good thing about a web series is that the story is told in eight and more episodes. The writer has the time to explore the theme and bring out the complexity in far greater detail compared to films. The actor, one must add, has the opportunity to do the same.”

Kirti Kulhari, who has featured in films like Mission Mangal and Uri: The Surgical Strike, has appeared as a Balochistan woman in Bard of Blood and a divorced lawyer in Four More Shots Please, which is presently in its second season.

The actor, who is looking forward to a ‘bunch of new releases,’ reflects, “Working for the web is different because one can experiment with different subjects. It also helps makers, directors, writers and actors explore a subject in greater detail. That freedom is most encouraging. Besides, work for OTT platforms reaches all over the world. They also motivate an actor to do one’s work with utmost sincerity and honesty because there is no burden of box-office numbers. That is the true space for any artist.”

Appearances in web series have been creating stars out of actors, whose fan following among urban audiences is increasing with each passing day. Jitendra Kumar, who appeared as a gay man in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, has been seen in a variety of avatars in shows such as Permanent Roommates and TVF Pitchers.

Everybody noticed his character of a star physics teacher in Kota Factory, India’s first black and white web show about coaching centres and youngsters preparing for entrance examinations. In Panchayat, an endearing portrayal of rural North Indian life, Kumar is as an engineering graduate who has found work as the Secretary of the village panchayat. If his track record is anything to go by, the actor will be a long-distance runner on the web.

Radhika Apte's latest release is Raat Akeli Hai, a Honey Trehan-helmed well-knit crime drama film on Netflix in which she is cast alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The actress had been appreciated for her performance as a Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) officer in Sacred Games. In Ghoul, the dystopian horror miniseries, she is a newly recruited military officer. In Lust Stories, an anthology film, she plays a teacher who engages in sexual intercourse with her student, leading to complications in the long run. Convincing and spontaneous, Apte’s performances have turned her into a star on the web.

Sobhita Dhulipala found fans after playing a wedding planner in Made in Heaven, a web series about affluent people, marriages and a lot more. In Bard of Blood, an espionage thriller, she played an analyst who goes to Balochistan with fellow travellers to rescue Indian agents captured by the Taliban. In Ghost Stories, an anthology film, she is a paranoid woman tormented by childhood trauma. The film was a letdown, but Dhulipala left a mark.

Vikrant Massey delivered a measured performance as an accountancy topper who enters the world of country-made arms and drugs in Mirzapur. Impressive as a cab driver who lands in trouble in Criminal Justice, his performance in Broken But Beautiful in the role of a man who has lost his wife and needs to move on has been greeted with appreciation as well.

Web series thrive on ideas. They also challenge the artist in every actor, who is willing to walk that extra mile to do something different. Cinema continues to be the most popular form of entertainment even today. But the day when OTT platforms will take its place may not far away.