We’re just actors?

A still from the series

Kritika Kamra surely loves a game of chor-police. After playing a gangster in her recently released offering, Bambai Meri Jaan (2023), the actor now slips into the role of an upright cop in Umesh Bisht's upcoming sci-fi thriller series, Gyaarah Gyaarah. Acknowledging this arc in her career's trajectory, Kamra says, "It was an opportunity I jumped at. There are some tender moments in the show. Behind the police procedures, there is a human drama. The emotional lives of these characters are tough, and only someone like Umesh sir could have dealt with it so delicately."

Kamra, who made her television debut in 2007, is among the few artistes who have transitioned to the digital medium rather effortlessly. OTT has democratised the casting process, she agrees, enabling actors to showcase new skill sets. "Because, as far as the web platform is concerned, one need not carry the baggage linked to the box-office opening [collections], creators can cast whoever they desire. Since people are roped in only via auditions, both artistes [from the television industry], and newcomers may find a place here."

However, while the web platform has opened doors for skilled artistes from the television industry, she agrees that the film industry has never been equally receptive to this lot. "Both businesses work differently. There is a price that you must pay - you have to quit that [TV] to be accepted in mainstream films. This hierarchy hasn't been created by actors, but by the audience and filmmakers. They see commercial viability in actors who haven't been seen on TV. The onus to change that image is on the actor."

Those who've made the desired leap from the small to the big screen have "probably been able to do that with one big project, or weren't in the public eye to begin with". "But, for someone who has been on television for years, this transition to films takes time."