Chitrangda Singh on what lacks in Hindi films: There’s more time spend on slow motions than the actual content

Chitrangda Singh recently completed 20 years in the Hindi film industry and till date, the actor is finding new avenues to sink her teeth into. Last month, she made her web series debut with filmmaker Neeraj Pandey’s Khakee The Bengal Chapter. When prodded why it took her so long to make her foray in this format, Chitrangda Sing insists it was because of the subpar writing offered to her before this.

“The writing has to be so good for the web as it’s not just about one person. A series has so many characters and it’s a collective effort for that to work. Everyone’s arc and chatacterisation has to work together. It’s not a feature, spearheaded just one person who is carrying the film,” she says, adding that the long format doesn’t rely on the peripherals that feature film thrive on.

The 48-year-old adds, “There are no crutches of a song or slow motion shots. It’s purely dependent on the writing, acting and the execution. In feature films nowadays, there is no time, everything is so cut to cut. There’s more time spend on slow motions than the actual content. Thus, I was always very scared about the OTT space. I did get offered quite a few series, but I always felt that they weren’t written well enough. That’s one of the reasons I stayed away. This is a very difficult format to be on and for an actor to be that good throughout is a challenge as it depends on a lot of factors.”

With Khakee, she found the same freedom and scope of exploration that she did with her debut film Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. “I started with something very similar with my first film. But for some reason, these kinds of parts don’t get written that much. I would have loved to do this kind of work more because naturally, I steer towards characters which are more complex, more human and more flawed. Even with this character in Khakee, while she is the leader of opposition, she also has a strong emotional graph. To play someone who is struggling with pain, ambition, love and idealism, I found it very interesting,” she insists.

Chitrangda wishes to get more such parts written for her in the web space. “It gives you a lot more time to explore your characters as the makers invest that time in it. The long format is the place if you want to hone your skill. I have tasted blood now but now I have to look for something that feels just as good,” she ends.