Rasika Dugal: Streaming space is competitive in a healthy way

Rasika Dugal is excited about a string of projects ready to release on the OTT platform this year, and she is happy with the streaming space evolving with the changing times. The actor says OTT platforms entered the entertainment scene with a great promise, and is happy that the promise continues to stand tall.

“For me, the coming of streaming services has been the most promising change since the time I started working. Even though the films I had done earlier had been beautiful experiences and were absolutely irreplaceable for me as a performer, they were largely independently produced/small budget films which would invariably get stuck in the distribution bottleneck,” Dugal tells us.

The 39-year-old adds, “And, therefore, fail to reach the audiences I felt they deserved. I feel the streaming space changed that. It gave actors like me an opportunity to do a variety of good quality work and also gave us access to a wide audience”.

Looking ahead, the Adhura actor is confident that things are moving in the right direction.

“The streaming space is a constantly evolving one. And like any other, there is the good and bad here too. There is so much vying for everyone’s attention that it is easy for creators to sometimes get swayed by something that gets eyeballs. In spite of this, I feel the streaming space is largely still a healthy, competitive and fairly democratic one. I am hoping that doesn't change. And also hoping that important creative decisions continue to rest with content creators and not marketing teams,” she shares.

When it comes to her journey, Dugal has had a great inning in the digital space, with roles such as a police officer in Delhi Crime, feisty Bina Tripathi in Mirzapur series, conflicted married woman in Out Of Love, understanding Savita in A Suitable Boy and comedy Humorously Yours getting plaudits from the audience as well as the critics.

As an artist, how do you adapt to the binge-watching culture prevalent in OTT platforms?

“How a piece of work is consumed has no impact on how I approach a role. I do what I think the script demands, what the director wants and be present to live the precious time between action and cut along with my co actor. Having said that, I find the long form format very enjoyable for a performer. The script has the luxury of time. One has the space to delve into things, spend more time being the part, understand it better and make changes along the way,” she mentions.

Here, she steers attention to how long format projects are driving a change in the narrative of onscreen women characters.

“What is interesting, is that the long form format of a series allows for a true ensemble. Multiple tracks can coexist and, therefore, characters have an opportunity to be well-etched out. I think this luxury of time in a screenplay has also done a huge service to the number of interesting parts for women and to how they are written,” she ends, with a hope that it continues to be the case in the times to come.