Bollywood biggies embracing OTT space is a trend going stronger with the likes of Hansal Mehta, Nikkhil Advani and Sanjay Leela Bhansali joining the list

Sheetal

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Director-producer Vikramaditya Motwane’s series, Jubilee, has opened to decent reviews and the viewers are waiting for its next part. While Motwane is an old player in the digital medium (read Sacred Games), there are many ace directors from the film industry, who are bringing about a change in their content creation to suit the digital space. We present some old gems and some upcoming treasures of 2023 that viewers can look forward to.

Big players

Motwane and director Anurag Kashyap came on board to co-direct 2018 series Sacred Games. The series became prominent as it was the first Indian original from OTT giant Netflix. However, its second part could not live up to the expectations of the viewers. The duo also co-produced the second original horror series from Netflix, titled Ghoul, in the same year. Motwane on the other hand has produced R. Madhavan- starrer Decoupled and also directed Kashyap in his Netflix film, AK vs AK, a black comedy thriller. Motwane’s latest is a period drama, Jubilee, which makes him a versatile creator on OTT.

National Award-winning director Tigmanshu Dhulia has given movies like Paan Singh Tomar and also helmed the franchise, Sahib, Biwi Aur Gangster. The director has been equally active in the digital medium. He debuted on OTT with Criminal Justice (2019), co-directed by Vishal Furia. The partnership with Hotstar continued with another series called The Great Indian Murder, which released in 2022. Another of his directorial, Garmi, will soon release on SonyLIV.

Similarly, Neeraj Pandey, Hansal Mehta, Sudhir Mishra, Nikkhil Advani, Zoya Akhtar are other big names who have made their presence felt with big budget series and films. Neeraj is the creator of one of the successful series, Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. His previous digital outings, The Special Ops and its prequel Special Ops: The Himmat Story, make for a hundred per cent success rate so far. Hansal Mehta, who became an overnight star on OTT for his debut directorial, Scam 1992, will soon be coming with its sequel, Scam 2003. But the director being busy with other projects is only serving as the executive-producer for the sequel.

From the successful ones, Nikkhil Advani has brought very different content as creator as well as director. His biographical period drama Rocket Boys Season 2 is currently streaming on Sony LIV while another epic period story of Disney+Hotstar, The Empire, took the standard of Indian series to another level. And as director-creator-producer and writer, Advani’s Mumbai Diaries 26/11 has garnered much appreciation for its casting and the storyline.

Late entry

After giving a treat to the cinema lovers with his last outing, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is also eyeing at a digital directorial debut. The first look of his much-anticipated series Heeramandi was revealed in February this year. With an ensamble cast, which include Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sharmin Segal and Sanjeeda Shaikh, Heeramandi will release on Netflix.

Last year, Madhur Bhandarkar also made an interesting entry to the list of film directors ruling OTT. He had released two films, Babli Bouncer and India Lockdown, made solely for OTT platforms, Disney+Hotstar and ZEE5, respectively. He said, “Babli Bouncer marked my digital debut. Disney+Hotstar and Junglee Pictures made sure we made a mega-scale original film. These days, if you observe every film or series that is being released on OTT, there is no compromise with the budget. OTT films are at par with the theatrical releases and that’s because the medium has come on par with the cinematic experience itself.”

What’s coming!

• Zoya Akhtar has earlier directed Made in Heaven (2019) and its sequel is long due. Apart from that she will be launching three star kids with her upcoming Netflix musical-film adaptation, The Archies.
• The Family Man hit-maker director duo Raj & DK has started the year with Shahid Kapoor’s debut series, Farzi. They have completed another big Netflix project, Guns & Gulaabs and are expected to work on the Indian spin-off of Priyanka Chopra-starrer Citadel.