Actor-anchor Gunjan Utreja says the audiences expectation and content preference would have changed with or without the lockdown. He feels it is because we are now in direct comparison with the international market.
“I think the Indian content would have changed even without the lockdown. It has to. Now we are able to watch a show like ‘Bard Of Blood’ and something like ‘Money Heist’ at the same time. We are now in direct competition with the International cinema or webseries. So if your content is not good, your story-telling is not so engaging, then it will be rejected,” he said.
“When the lockdown started, initially for the first 21 days people binge-watched all the shows. But then they got bored of it. So to keep the audience busy, one needs to come up with exciting content, otherwise nobody is going to watch it,” he added. The government has issued a list of guidelines keeping the current Covid-19 scenario in mind. And Gunjan says we will have to wait and see how it gets implemented and adapted.
“The guidelines have just come, so we will have to see how we implement and adapt to it. In our webseries too there is a fight scene, and we still need to shoot it and there are other scenes as well because the story is about friends and my character is in a relationship too. So I can’t hug another human being standing six feet apart, so that is something the director needs to take a call on. It is for all of us to see how things go, and we adapt to it accordingly,” he said. “Daily soaps, it’s still easier because they take close up shots individually. The format of web series is a little different. It’s shot in a different way. A lot of characters are intertwined in one single frame. So the storytelling is different here. We will have to wait and see how things work,” the multi-talented actor said. Gunjan has hosted various reality shows and award ceremonies. He also hosts chat shows like “Bubble Bath”, “Not Just Supper Stars” and “Chalk & Cheese”. He will soon be seen in two new web series, whose shooting halted midway because of the lockdown.
He recently did a music video for T-series “Judaai” and surprised the audience with his passionate and emotive acting. He says he wants to do roles that challenge him and shared a few details about his character in his upcoming web series. “In one of the web series that I am doing now, I play a rockstar. The character is complexed and has various shades of grey to him. So here I was learning the guitar for 3 months. Surrounded with music and transforming to a happy space and at the same time portray a character who is broken and lonely from inside. It was emotionally exhausting. This process of transforming someone else is what excites me about acting.” Gunjan signed off.
Are you excited to see Gunjan in this new role?