Actor Riteish Deshmukh says OTT platforms allow actors to explore their craft and perform versatile roles but have become very choosy nowadays. The 45-year-old who has featured in several OTT films, including Kakuda (2024), Pill (2024) and Plan A Plan B (2022) tells us, “The digital space gets you more variation in roles. But as actors, as much as we would like to explore our craft, we are [only] as good as the opportunities we get.”
He adds, “It is not very easy for films to come on OTT now. Platforms have become very choosy. They need films that can work, and rightfully so. They cannot take any and every film that comes [to them].”
Stating “there are no free lunches in life”, Deshmukh further says that there is a certain economics that goes into making every film, be it on OTT or theatres. “Some platform is going to pay that money. If the film doesn’t bring viewers or fails to do well on that platform, they will have numbers to show how to move forward.”
“They will clearly say ‘I don’t want Riteish. He doesn’t work well for our platform. So cast someone else.’ So, it’s not as if this space is a safer medium. Moreover, different actors work for different platforms,” he adds.
Also Read: Important to not burden any film with actor’s fees: Riteish Deshmukh
Two types of filmmakers
According to Deshmukh, there are two types of filmmakers. “The first type casts [actors] as per the script while the second type writes scripts according to the cast. For example, one filmmaker thinks ‘I want to write a film for Salman Khan’ while another says ‘this is my film and I need a suitable cast for it’,” the 45-year-old says while mentioning that it is the latter’s work that will stand the test of time because “effort has gone into making the film right”.
Deshmukh adds, “After the pandemic we were stuck in a space where we were unaware what kind of films would work. We thought only big massy entertainers or flagship films would work. But there are several films that broke that norm and worked without a lot of promotion just because of their content, the latest being Munjya.”
Also Read: Riteish Deshmukh breaks down honouring father Vilasrao Deshmukh, then tells brother to…: Reports
Leap of faith
Talking about how he personally chooses to work with specific filmmakers, Deshmukh says, “[There are times] we get something really different but may not be confident about the director or the script so we sometimes have to take a leap of faith.” Deshmukh adds this leap of faith rule applies across OTT and theatrical releases and is “not applicable to just one medium”.
Deshmukh says he has taken his leap of faith for OTT. “I never doubted or questioned any of my filmmakers, be it Aditya [Sarpotdar, director of Kakuda] or Raj [Kumar Gupta, director of Pill]. I was doing something completely different from what I have done till now in my career,” he concludes.
