OTT stars became neglected actors in Bollywood

- The digital revolution has brought hundreds of talented artists to Bollywood. Some of them have been working in this field for years. But his work was not properly appreciated. Today they are ruling the OTT

When Shabana Azmi praised Pratik Gandhi for her role in Scam 12 and said that she has not seen such a performance in the last 30 years, tears came to the eyes of this 70-year-old Gujarati artist. Pratik, who has given many hit Gujarati films, was eager to enter Bollywood. But Hansal Mehta's single web series based on the life of Harshad Mehta changed the pace of Pratik's career.

Many directors have been impressed by Harshad Mehta's portrayal and he has now got hundreds of Hindi films in the lead role, mainly Hansal Mehta's Dedh Bigha Zameen and Ajay Devgn's Six Suspects for Production. Not only that but he is now being compared to Manoj Vajpayee.

After trying unsuccessfully to enter Hindi films for many years, OTT has made a comeback with just one web series. However, such a miracle did not happen only with Pratik Gandhi. The digital revolution has brought hundreds of talented artists to Bollywood. Some of them have been working in this field for years. But his work was not properly appreciated. Today they are ruling the OTT.

Pankaj Tripathi is one such name. This actor from Bihar is seen today as the most natural actor of his generation. But what many may not know is that Pankaj Tripathi had tried unsuccessfully to gain a foothold in Bollywood by playing such small roles for 15 years. Thus, he got the national award for the film Newton (2013) but he got his real name on the OTT stage. His three consecutive web series Criminal Justice, Sacred Games and his talent in Mirzapur earned him the envy of even Bollywood superstars.

In this too, apart from Mirzapur and Tripathi, Vikrant Messi also proved to be auspicious. Based on the gang war, the webseries gave Ali Fazal and Divyendu names alongside Messi that they could not have imagined in Bollywood.

Messi has previously starred in TV, short films and critically acclaimed films such as A Death in the Echo (2013) and Lipstick Under My Burqa (2013). But Mirzapur and Criminal Justice put him in a higher position. This success gave her a lead role opposite heroines like Deepika Padukone (Chapak) and Tapasi Pannu (Haseen Dilruba).

Ali Fazal had earlier acted in films like Fukre and Fukre Returns but the real success came from OTT's Mirzapur and Ray Anthology. Mirzapur also gave a good success to Divyendu who played the role of Munna Tripathi who was earlier cast in Bollywood.

However, the biggest success of the OTT forum is Jaideep Ahlawat. The 21-year-old actor, who has been awaiting success from Gangs of Wasseypur in 2012, has proved that Bollywood did not make the most of his performance in the role of police in the underworld. He also revived 4 year old veteran artist Neeraj Kabi from the underworld. Debuting in Bollywood on the 19th, Kabi got a chance in Talwar (2013) but the real success came from the web series Taj Mahal 18, Hades and Obstacles: The Siege.

Soham Shah also admits that he had earlier acted in films like Talwar, Ship of Thesis and Tumbad but he did not even imagine getting such a name from Maharani web series.

OTT has given the same opportunity to actresses. Names like Radhika Apte, Nina Gupta, Shefali Shah, Tisca Chopra, Rasika Duggal, Shweta Tripathi, Kubra Sait, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sayani Gupta, Sheeba Chadha and Kirti Kulhari have become famous today due to OTT.

Undoubtedly, OTT has given a good opportunity to talented artists. Siddhant Chaturvedi, who is enjoying success in Bollywood today, also started with the Inside Age (2013) web series which gave him an important role in Gali Boys. That is why now stars like Ajay Devgn and Shahid Kapoor are also turning to web series. Bobby Deol and Abhishek Bachchan, who were rejected by Bollywood, have also joined hands with OTT to revive their careers. Undoubtedly, the OTT platform is a competition of talent. The artist will be identified not by his family but by his art.