OTT platform is here to stay irrespective of COVID pandemic: filmmaker Anjan Dutt

Debuting in web series as a director, national award-winning filmmaker Anjan Dutt on Sunday said that irrespective of COVID-19, the OTT platform is here to stay.

The popularity of over-the-top (OTT) platforms increased manifold after the government ordered closure of cinema theatres at the end of March last year as a part of lockdown measures imposed to check the spread of coronavirus.

Several films were also released on OTT platforms instead of theatres.

‘Irrespective of COVID-19, OTT is here to stay. It is a new, exciting and dynamic format. I have been introduced to this new medium at this phase of my long career, but I would like to continue making web series,’ Dutt who is now 68 years old told PTI.

The director of the national award-winning film ‘Ranjana Ami Aar Asbona’ said that he enjoyed making ‘Murder in The Hills’, a Bengali web series.

Set in the backdrop of Darjeeling, the story revolves around the mysterious death of a Bengali film star of the 90s.

He said, keeping in mind the freshness in the look and ambience of the web series, ‘I have consciously cast fresh faces, who are well-known actors but certainly not stars, as characters are more important here than actors (big names).’ The cast for ‘Murder in The Hills’ includes Arjun Chakrabarty, Anindita Bose and Rajdeep Gupta.

Dutt said that Darjeeling is ‘the most exciting place’ for him, but for this project, he unravelled another Darjeeling, ‘not the touristy hill station, but a different place as seen through the eyes of the people inhabiting there.’ The web series is scheduled to be streamed from July 23 on a Bengali OTT platform. PTI