Javed Akhtar Calls OTT ‘Wonderful Medium’
Pune, March 4: OTT is a wonderful medium that has given creators a platform to narrate bold and complex stories, said Javed Akhtar here on Friday. The acclaimed poet, lyricist and screenplay writer was speaking about the changes in Indian cinema and entry of the OTT platforms in to the arena at the ongoing 20th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF).
Javed Akhtar said that some stories cannot be told in just two hours, they may require the narration of 10 to 12 hours and that has been made possible only by the OTT platforms. While reflecting on the changes of the Indian Cinema, Akhtar drew attention to the changing characters of the protagonists.
He said: “From 60s to the 80s, most of the heroes of the films were from the working class. In the 90s it changed and the protagonist was from a rich background belonging to a big Indian family and roamed around on the roads of Switzerland. But now, that has also changed,” he said.
He added that along with the web series, even the cinema that is shown in the multiplex is telling the stories of the small towns. “Recently you must have observed that there are series of films that tell the stories of people from the small towns of India. “These stories have come out because of the curiosity of the young urban generation who are not satisfied merely by the material and technological development. “They are more interested in asking ‘who they are and what their roots are’,” said Akhtar.
