Jayati Bhatia: In 2024, I feel OTT viewers have dwindled

Jayati Bhatia has a simple thumb rule when approaching a character find something novel about it Her latest show Jaane Anjaane Hum Mile offered her just that The actor portrays Sharda Suryavanshi a woman whose love for her family is conditional After building a career playing the quintessential saas and a vamp in television shows since 1995 Bhatia says it was a departure to play a character that isnrsquot ldquostraightforwardrdquo In a chat with midday the actor talks about tackling roles feeling as nervous as any newcomer on the set and why she believes the OTT boom is a mythEdited excerpts from the interviewOver the years what has been the one role that has satisfied the actor in youItrsquos a clicheacuted answer but it is true A role that Irsquove already done becomes a tale of the past The new characters that come my way excite me For instance now as I play Sharda Suryavanshi in Jaane Anjaane Hum Mile I am nervous Irsquove played the matriarch of a family who controls everyone before Here I am not like that Sharda shows that she has a big heart but in reality is hiding her true self My characters have all been straightforward before Sharda loves her family but her love is conditional and selfish She loves Raghav the protagonist and has invested emotionally in him so that she can revel in the returns after 15 yearsYou are a veteran on set How do you manage with relatively newer actors who are learning the craftAt the beginning of any show I am as nervous as any newbie Itrsquos just that people donrsquot see my nervousness They believe that with my experience I will deliver the best in one take I may be more experienced as per my craft but I am as new to the show as anyone else on set I will know the tricks to do a scene and they may notmdashthat probably is the only difference Here Bharat Ahlawat and Ayushi Khurana came prepared on set Sehaj Rajput who plays Unnati and Dhruv Rohit Kumar are wet behind the ears But while shooting a wedding sequence the way Sehaj performed her scene made me so proud of her I have a lot of respect for actors unless they are terrible Then I get exasperatedWere you nervous when you were a newbieBack then our seniors were in the same position as I am now They never told us to shut up or learn our lines and come back Irsquove worked with Kirron Kher and some prolific actors in my career Sudha Chandranji taught me how to face the light and camera She said lsquoYou are not doing theatre yoursquore working for the camera So you have to learn where the light isrsquo Since they taught me it is now my responsibility to be patient with the newbiesThe concept of aata saata has been explored in Bade Acche Lagte Hai and Kutumb What is novel about this showThe word lsquoaata saatarsquo is new When I heard the narration I was puzzled with the term In fact I wanted the show to be called Aata Saata laughs I was staying in Karol Bagh in Delhi where I saw the Rajasthani community practice this exchange Back then as a kid I was just thrilled about two weddings happening together Now I realise what it meantAs society is changing people are choosing not to marry So how is the story of a couple who is entering a marriage that is all about compromise relevantChoosing to not marry is an urban concept In tier II and III cities it is still not popular Ultimately we are telling a story and wersquove been telling stories since ages We cannot know how it will end If we know how it begins and ends itrsquos not fun Twists and turns keep the audience hooked Gabriel Garciacutea Maacuterquezrsquos book Love in the Time of Cholera showed that love can bloom in the most horrible places This is not even as complicatedThere has been a shift in audiencersquos taste since the OTT boom Do you feel the TV audience is dwindlingNo In 2024 I feel OTT viewers have dwindled Not every show coming out is fantastic People watch two out of eight episodes and leave the show I feel itrsquos not a boom Television is still going strong Five years ago it was predicted that the television industry would shut down but it didnrsquot happen People have changed their viewing patterns Now that we are on the phone and on apps itrsquos not fixed that at 7pm everyone will be watching the same show The idea of family viewing and primetime is gone No one will stop watching TV shows